Number One Contender
by Esca Madeline
Summary: A series of drabbles that serve as a continuation to Next Contestant. Chapter 21: The upcoming Holidays have a way of bringing out the best and worst in everyone.
1. Observation 1: Stewart's Smile

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar. Stewart and Benji happen to be mine.

A/N: This is the first of many short chapters/drabbles that will serve as a continuation to Next Contestant. This particular drabble takes place right after the last chapter I posted…which was a while ago.

Why did I create a separate story for this, you ask? Because the style I'm using now is a bit different from the one I originally used for Next Contestant. Also, nearly all of the drabbles will be in Jimmy's point of view, although Benji might get a drabble from time to time. That said, mashing these drabbles with the original story would have ruined the setting.

Anyhow…see if you like it, and give me your feedback, okay? Enjoy.

**Observation One: Stewart's Smile**

Stewart's smile was nothing more than a charming, poisonous twist of the lips.

It was astonishing, really, how the Asian boy could keep his composure in such a calm and collected manner. How he could simply lean back against the black hood of the car with that relaxed, gentle, _sickening_ grin on his face, as if he knew nothing about what was going on inside the Bullworth pool building.

At any other time, Jimmy would have found such control admirable. But not tonight.

_That bastard! That lying son-of-a-bitch!_

"Good evening," Stewart greeted cheerfully. "How can I help—ah!"

Jimmy grabbed the Asian boy by the collar of his suit and slammed him hard against the side of the black limo. "You _bastard_," Jimmy hissed, giving Stewart a hard shake. "You sick son-of-a bitch! This is _your_ fault!"

Stewart tilted his head curiously, and stared at Jimmy with innocent eyes. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, Mr. Hopkins." His voice was calm and steady, as if he _hadn't_ just been slammed against an expensive metal vehicle. "If you could please elaborate for me, I would very much appreciate it."

"Don't give me that bullshit!" Jimmy's grip on Stewart was now so tight and rage-ridden that his knuckles turned to a ghastly white. "You know perfectly well what I'm talking about! The girls, the rockgun, the shooting at the pipes…you almost _killed_ a little girl, you psycho! I outta kill _you_!"

Silence. For a long moment, there was not a sound between the two boys, save for Jimmy's harsh breathing and the occasional passing of a random car. Jimmy stared hard into Stewart's dark eyes, and was horrified to see that the other boy's gaze was bright and amused, as if he had just told a joke that no one understood but himself.

He was also smiling. Jimmy found himself hating that smile.

Finally, Stewart spoke. "Mr. Hopkins," he said calmly, "I would advise you to drop your juvenile attitude. I am a patient man, but I will not allow anyone to show unjustified hostility towards me."

"Un—UNJUSTIFIED?!" Jimmy stared at the Asian boy in shock and disbelief, before he roughly shoved Stewart away from him. The conniving jerk! "You think your innocent act is going to work on _me_? I've seen my share of lying bastards, but you might just take the cake!"

"I'm not really fond of cake, actually," Stewart said quietly.

"SHUT UP! You think I'm gonna let this go? I KNOW it was you, and I swear I'm gonna make you and your school pay!"

"Oh really?" The Asian boy crossed his arms, and raised a brow at Jimmy. "Are you _threatening _me, Mr. Hopkins? I should warn you that I don't take kindly to threats. It forces me to use less civilized methods of oppression against my offender, which I don't really wish to use."

"Why you—"

"I wouldn't advise using profanities, Mr. Hopkins," Stewart warned, waggling a finger in the air. "After all, we _do_ have an audience present. Isn't that right, Trudy dear?"

Stewart looked behind him, and Jimmy caught a glimpse of a tearstained face through the open windows of the black limo. It was the dark-haired girl from before, the one who had brought the rockgun into the pool building.

She looked as if she had just gone through hell and back.

"Trudy's usually a very good girl," Stewart said suddenly, pulling Jimmy out of his stupor. "A shame that her actions caused that blasted pipe to fall down." The Asian boy turned to him with a curious stare. "Tell me, Mr. Hopkins. Did the pipe happen to hit anyone?"

Jimmy clenched his fists. The bastard was still smiling. "No. Stephanie's okay."

"Oh really?" A look of disappointment briefly flitted across Stewart's features, before his smile returned. "That's good news. No casualties."

"I know you caused it," Jimmy snapped. "You and that girl." He threw a look at the tearstained face in the car, and the girl mournfully turned her gaze away. "You set her up, didn't you? You set up that girl to fuck with the pipes—"

"I would be very, _very_ careful if I were you," Stewart interrupted. "These are very serious allegations you are making against me. Slander isn't taken lightly in this country anymore, especially if the slanderer has no _proof_."

"I _saw_ you!" Jimmy yelled. "And so did Petey and Gary! We'll tell everyone what we saw, and then—"

"Gary Smith?" Stewart's smile, disturbing enough to begin with, suddenly became even more pronounced. "The psychotic boy who caused absolute chaos in this very school a few years ago? Forgive me for my skepticism, but I hardly think that the delinquent would serve as a trustworthy alibi."

_Damn_. Jimmy begrudgingly had to admit that this was true. Gary was as trustworthy as a rat in a grain bin, and no one in his right mind would depend on a creep like him. But…

"He's—he's changed," Jimmy said uncertainly. "He's different now."

"Oh really?" The smile became almost twisted. "Then you would trust him with your life? Your family members? Your deepest, darkest secrets?"

Silence.

"I thought not."

"I still have Petey."

At this, Stewart burst out laughing, his tremulous voice echoing loudly into the dark, silent night. Jimmy stared at the Asian boy in surprise and confusion. Just what the hell was so funny?

"Oh my!" Stewart gasped, hugging his sides with peal. "Oh my! That's hilarious, Mr. Hopkins! Mr. Kowalski as your only other witness? Ahahahahaha!"

"Petey's a good witness!" Jimmy snapped, though his face became slightly flushed at Stewart's refusal to take him seriously. "And besides, once the teachers see your little 'rockgun' it'll be over for you!"

"You mean this launcher?" Stewart suddenly brandished the said launcher from underneath his suit. He calmly pointed the gun at the pavement, and fired several times into the concrete. Black and white beanie bags spewed the ground, but no rocks emerged from the gun. There wasn't so much as even a pebble.

Jimmy fell silent. Stewart grinned, and tossed the gun into Jimmy's hands.

It was a beanie bag launcher. A_ beanie bag_ launcher! But—but how?

"I think that about clears it up, don't you?" Stewart said cheerfully, as he patted Jimmy on the shoulder. "Just so you know, I did not come here to challenge anyone's honor. But after this display, I must say that you're not exactly in clear waters yourself,"

Jimmy looked up at the smiling Stewart in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"I heard all about you, Mr. Hopkins. You don't exactly have a clean record. You tagged City Hall in Bullworth Town, did you not?"

Jimmy's eyes widened. Stewart looked triumphant.

"And how can I know," the Asian boy went on, "that someone from _your_ academy didn't break the pipes? Maybe you were trying to hit one of _my_ schoolmates, and it just happened to fall on a Bullworth girl by accident. Maybe _you're_ the ones who are cheating!"

"That's a fucking lie!" Jimmy shouted, shoving Stewart's hand off of his shoulder. "What the hell are you trying to do?"

"I'm just giving you fair warning, Mr. Hopkins. If you try to get in my way like you did right now, I _will_ find ways to turn the tables on you. I am not someone to be trifled with. You'd do well to remember that."

Jimmy felt a chill run down his spine. Despite the smile on his face, there was something dangerous in the way Stewart spoke. "Are _you_ threatening _me_, Lee?"

"Perhaps." Stewart gave Jimmy one last poisonous smile, before he looked over Jimmy's shoulder and greeted, "Good evening, Headmistress!"

Jimmy whirled around, and saw the old, wilted face of Emily Renzo. Not bothering to wait for the old woman's reply, Jimmy turned on his heel and headed off towards the Boys' Dorm.

He looked back as he turned the corner. He saw Stewart and the girl, Trudy, help the old woman into the limo before Stewart pulled the girl aside. Jimmy saw the Asian boy grasp Trudy's shoulder as he bent down and whispered something into her ear…

It was disgusting. Jimmy tore his gaze away from the scene and angrily marched up the stone steps towards the dorm. Benji walked into the dorm not two seconds after, pulling off a pair of red thongs off of his head with one hand, while holding a white packet in the other.

The little boy looked suspiciously pleased with himself, though this didn't register into Jimmy's head until much later.

He tried to shed the image of Stewart's smile from his mind. Out of all the things about that boy, the smile was what affected Jimmy the most, though he didn't know why.

Stewart's smile was nothing more than a charming, poisonous twist of the lips.

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**If you don't like it, then tell me and I'll stop the idea altogether. But if you want me to continue the Next Contestant drabbles, then tell me and I'll go on.**

**Either way, you guys have to tell me.**

**So, read and review.**


	2. Observation 2: The Value of Merits

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: This second drabble is strictly between Jimmy and Benji. It's a small discussion of what Benji did the night where Peace Onmite tried to injure a Bullworth swimmer. Expect a lot of these one-on-one drabbles.

**Observation Two: The Value of Merits**

"You have to admit, Jim…it's kind of funny once you think about it."

"I'm not sure I _want_ to think about it. I can't believe you did this, Ben."

Benji snorted as he took a seat next to Jimmy on the rim of the school fountain. "They deserved it," Benji said flatly. "They almost drowned Karen, and then they tried to kill Stephanie with that pipe! Sprinkling a little super-strength, delayed-action itching powder into their clothes is _nothing_ in terms of retribution."

"But into their _underwear_?" Jimmy said in disbelief. He snatched the red thong from Benji's hands and held it up in front of the boy's face. "You broke into Peace Onmite's locker room and tossed in super strength itching powder into their bras and panties? What the hell were you thinking?"

"That I was going to get revenge," Benji replied happily, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

Unfortunately, Jimmy didn't happen to agree. "You could have gotten caught!" he yelled, forcefully refraining himself from reaching over to shake some sense into the wheat-haired child. "If those girls caught you…well, I don't even want to think about what could have happened!"

"Aha! But I _didn't _get caught, did I? I'm right here, safe and sound by your side—OW!" Benji gave Jimmy a wide-eyed stare, clutching the back of his head where the older boy had smacked him. "Jesus, Jim! What the hell was that for?"

"For you acting like an insane jackass. This isn't like you at all. You're supposed to be the goody-two-shoes Nerd boy. You're not supposed to act like—like—"

"You?"

Jimmy threw Benji an annoyed glare. "I didn't say that."

"It's the impression that I got. And I'm not a Nerd."

"That's debatable."

"Jerk."

"So what's going to happen to the Peace Onmite girls?" Jimmy asked, noting that the red thongs in his hands were itching powder free. "I didn't notice any of them scratching up a storm when they left."

"That's because the itching powder Thad and I made is _delayed action_."

"Come again?"

Benji sighed. "This isn't like regular itching powder. Regular itching powder make a person's skin itch upon contact, and never lasts for more than a couple of minutes. _This_ brand is much better, especially for covert operations of revenge."

"Really?" Jimmy cocked his head to the side, interested. "Tell me more. And keep it in Layman's terms, Nerd boy."

Benji's eye twitched at the Nerd reference, but he continued on. Very, _very _forcefully. "Anyway…the effects are ten times more powerful than the regular products, and the target ends up scratching himself until the skin turns raw and bleeding. Then, hives as large as hard-boiled eggs grows on the infected body parts like a plague—"

"I'll take ten packets!" Jimmy said immediately, a suspiciously evil glint shining in his eye. He could practically _taste_ the mayhem he could cause with these things…

"Wait!" Benji cried, a little unnerved at Jimmy's over enthusiasm at the strength of the product. "There's a setback!"

_Drat._ "Cancel that order, then."

"It's just a minor one, Jim," Benji explained, frowning. "The effects are unusually delayed by half an hour, due to the fact that Algie had accidentally knocked over some talcum powder into the mix when the powder was being made…"

"I see. You should always be wary of the 'Algie Factor' when making products that can revolutionize the world of pranksters."

"But, it's a good setback in this case."

Jimmy raised a brow. "Oh really?"

"This means that Peace Onmite was well out of town by the time the itching powder finally kicked in."

"…and?"

Benji let out a groan of frustration before he poked a finger against Jimmy's forehead. "THINK, Jim! If the Piss-On-Me girls started scratching their tits and asses off thirty minutes after they left Bullworth, then there's very little chance that they can pin the blame on us!"

"Oh!" Jimmy's eyes widened at this revelation, before a concerning thought edged its way into his mind. "Wait a second…won't the powder leave some residue?"

Benji grinned. "I sprinkled a _thin_ layer of powder against their bras and panties. By the time they started to itch, the stuff should already have seeped into their skin. Look!" Benji reached into his pockets and pulled out a printed sheet of paper. He handed it to Jimmy with an air of pride. "See? Those Piss-On-Me bastards are already up in arms about it! And they don't have any real proof that it was us!"

Jimmy took the sheet from Benji and quickly skimmed the printout, his interest peaking when he realized that it was a copy of an article from the Peace Onmite school newspaper.

_Outrage amongst the student body_, Jimmy read,_ at the outbreak of hives among the members of the Girls' swim team. Each swimmer is to be checked for deadly skin diseases…Head Boy Stewart Lee expresses his concern that a rival school, Bullworth Academy, might be the culprits, but as the hives broke out when the girls were outside the town of Bullworth, doctors are looking for other sources…_

Oh crap. Stewart suspected them. "Huh."

"…you okay, Jim?" Benji asked, resting his chin in his hand. "You look a little worried. I thought the article would cheer you up."

"Oh. Um…it did." Jimmy looked away from Benji's curious stare. "Where did you get this?"

"Cornelius hacked into the Peace Onmite computer system. A firewall was set up two minutes later, but there was enough time to print that article."

"Ah. They must have smart Nerds too, at that school…"

"That's not why you're upset, though. What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking about Stewart Lee."

Benji blinked—he had not yet seen the Asian boy face-to-face. "Who's that?"

"Some asshole from Peace Onmite," Jimmy replied quietly. "He's the Head Boy there, and he was wearing this gay-looking suit…"

"Fruitcake."

Despite himself, Jimmy grinned at Benji's insult. "That's what I was thinking too. But I think he was the one responsible for the pipes falling last night…"

"WHAT?!" Benji gave Jimmy an astonished stare. "Jim, why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Petey and Gary know…" Jimmy mumbled, all too aware of how pathetic he sounded. "And anyway, what's the point? I have no proof that it was him, and Petey and Gary are the only witnesses. Not exactly a convincing tale."

"But—but—" Benji was furious. "But—did he _confess_ to you that he did it?"

"Not in so many words. He hinted it, but…"

"But? But WHAT? Why didn't you have a tape recorder, or wear a wire? You should have recorded his confession, or something!"

"Look, back off, okay?" Jimmy yelled, forcing Benji to step back. "I just met the guy yesterday. I don't know how to deal with him yet, so give me a little time and get off my fucking back!"

He immediately regretted yelling. Benji's face suddenly became impassive, and the small boy looked away, a faint look of hurt evident in his eyes. "Sorry Jim," Benji mumbled, stepping off of the fountain rim. "I'll leave you alone then…" He turned and headed off towards the school, his head low.

_Goddamn it._

Jimmy hated feeling guilty about _anything_, but guilt was definitely what he felt when he stared at Benji's retreating back. Damn it, what was this annoying brat doing to him? He didn't give a crap about any other little kid, so why…? "Ben!" he yelled. "Come back." He saw Benji stop and look back at him with an unfathomable expression that made Jimmy shiver.

_Please don't ignore me, kid. Please don't. I have enough people in the world who despise me…_

He breathed a sigh of relief when Benji slowly walked back, hands shoved into his pockets. This time, however, he sat a foot away from Jimmy on the fountain's edge, and for some reason this made Jimmy hurt.

_I guess Ben won't be sharing any food with me for a while._

"Why do you think he did it?" Benji asked suddenly, his eyes fixated on a ladybug that was slowly crawling up his pant leg. "Stewart Lee, I mean. Why'd you think he broke the pipes?"

Jimmy snorted. "I don't know. Maybe he's just crazy?"

"Crazy or not, every action is backed by a motive," Benji said firmly. "Also, every motive is backed by the promise of rewarding merits. There had to be some merit in it for Stewart Lee, otherwise he wouldn't have done what he did."

"Don't get philosophical on me. And anyway, why do you care? It's not like he's gonna attack us again anytime soon."

"What if Lee tries again? What then?"

Jimmy shrugged. "Cross that bridge when we come to it."

"You're not going to do anything? I heard that Jocks are furious, Jim! The boys, anyway. They'll try to murder you in your sleep if they find out you're not going to do anything!"

"Cross that bridge when we come to it too."

Benji gave Jimmy a deadpanned look. "So…you're just going to go on a spending spree, and worry about the bills when they come in?"

"I didn't say that!" Jimmy retorted, his tone annoyed and defensive.

"I'm just summing up what I heard, Jim," Benji said, crossing his arms at Jimmy's irritation. "Jesus, you've got to be more tactful in your speech…"

"Man, whatever."

"But just remember what I said, Jim. Every action is backed by a motive, and every motive is backed by the promise of merits. Just…be careful, okay?"

The older boy laughed bitterly. "I wonder if Lee's motive is anything like _your_ motive, when you laced the panties and bras with itching powder?"

"HEY!" Benji's face flushed a pretty shade of scarlet. "I had a _good_ motive! It was to get retribution for Karen and the rest of the swim team!"

"Uh-huh. Sure. And I'm sure these red thongs had nothing to do with it." Jimmy snapped the elastic band in front of Benji's face mockingly, grinning when the boy's face reddened even more.

"Believe what you want, Jim. At any rate, I definately got a good reward out of it."

"Oh really?" Jimmy said sarcastically. "And what might that be, other than the fact that you got to delve into an experience that every pervert dreams of having?"

Just then, a group of female jocks passed by Jimmy and Benji. All of the girls stopped when they saw Benji, and they all ran over to give him a kiss on the cheek, ignoring the stunned Jimmy as he looked on in surprise.

"We heard what you did, Benji!" Marion said between kisses. "We really appreciate it!"

"Just so you know," Stephanie explained, as she gave a quick peck to Benji's forehead, "we're gonna tell the other Jocks to leave you alone, because you're a cool fellow for getting back at those Piss-On-Me bitches for us!"

"Bye Benji!" the girls cooed, before they all ran off towards the athletics department, leaving the wheat-haired boy wobbling where he sat.

With his face covered in lipstick marks, his eyes slightly dilated, and his lips stretched into the biggest grin Jimmy ever saw, Benji never looked so happy in all the time Jimmy had known him. With a half-drunken smile, Benji laughed, and said to Jimmy, "See? Every action is backed by a motive, and every motive is backed by the promise of rewarding merits."

"You're a wise child, young grasshopper," Jimmy remarked dryly. "A very wise, woman-crazy child."

Benji gave Jimmy a mock bow. "Thank you, my master."

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**Read and review for more, my dear readers.**


	3. Observation 3 'Benji': Symmetry

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: While Jimmy will be the center figure for _most_ of the drabbles, Benji will get a chapter of his own from time to time, beginning with this one. And, whenever I decide to switch the focus on him, I will write in first person.

So, it's easy for you guys to figure it out, right? Third person narrative: Jimmy's perspective. First person narrative: Benji's perspective.

Dan and Thad are supposedly brothers in the game, but because they have different last names, I decided to make them half-brothers. If you want to use this idea as well, you're going to have to ask me.

**Observation Three (Benji): Symmetrical Revelations on Cosplay**

**I.**

Halloween happens to be one of my favorite holidays of the year.

I don't like Halloween for the reasons that everyone else does, however. It's not about the festivities, the parties, or the candy. Don't get me wrong—I love dressing up in wild, spunky costumes. I love going trick o' treating with Meela. I love stuffing myself full of candy late into the night, and I love waking up the next day with a bulging stomach, with the sweet, heavenly taste of sugar still present on my lips and tongue.

I'll be bluntly honest with you. Halloween is one of the few reasons why I haven't shoved a gun into my mouth yet.

But let's not go there, okay? This is supposed to be a fun night.

Happy Halloween.

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**II.**

Everyone else already has their costumes on. Even at eight o'clock in the morning, I saw people prancing around in homemade tights, store brought spandex, and custom made silk. I particularly enjoyed watching Thad walk around, dressed as some lame-ass superhero called "Super Thad."

Wave around your yardstick of justice, Super Thad! Protect the world from falling into the hands of the increasingly stupid louts who dare think of themselves as members of the human race!

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**III.**

I chose to not wear my costume until later on in the day. And you know something? This immediately separated me from almost the entire fucking school. I'm not kidding. Because everyone else was wearing an outfit, I was once again an outcast…the guy who doesn't fit in…the one who won't go along with the program. It's funny when you think about it, because Meela spent two hundred dollars on this school outfit just so that I _could_ fit in.

It's bitterly ironic.

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**IV.**

At least no one beat me up.

I suppose I have Jimmy to thank for that. Good ole' Jim. I don't know why he's looking out for me, but I'm not complaining. He's cool, if not a little hot-tempered. And he does make me laugh from time to time, even if he does try to steal my food.

He's a lovable bastard. I would introduce him to Meela if I wasn't so worried that he might try to steal her from me. Jim's a son-of-a-bitch Casanova, did you know that? No way am I letting him meet the most wonderful woman in the world.

At any rate, he's preoccupied with three girls at once right now. He's still sorting things out with that crazy Hispanic Greaser chick, Maria. He's currently dating Angie Ng, this really nice Asian girl who sometimes gives me an apple whenever she goes into the library. Too bad that Jim's cheating on her with that sexy redhead, Christy Martin.

He's a dickhead when it comes to love.

…

Why did I suddenly feel like I was being hypocritical?

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**V.**

The real reason I like Halloween is the fact that people reveal who they really are inside, if only for this one night.

How can I explain it? I know that people dress up on this night for fun, but on a philosophical standpoint, you can see that everyone is actually revealing something about themselves, simply by looking at the way they're dressed. It's an unintentional exposure—many people don't even realize that they're unconsciously baring their souls out to the world, and to those who _do_ realize it, it's the time to analyze and understand the natures of those around us.

Of course, some people are obvious from the get go, and Halloween only serves to confirm their outward personalities. Gloria, forever the scholar, decided to dress herself as Madam Currie, with white lab coat and glowing beakers in hand. Karen Johnson, (who is thankfully back to full health after that disastrous swim meet with Peace Onmite) is going out as Mia Ham, one of the most famous female soccer players in the known world.

As for Miss Darcy…dear, sweet Miss Darcy…she's always demanding to be treated like a queen, and so she's going to the Bullworth Town Halloween Gala dressed as the Queen of Hearts. She gave me many, MANY hints that she wanted me to dress as the King of Hearts. I made many, MANY attempts to avoid her like the plague.

Ethan Robinson dressed as a traditional ninja. I _knew_ he was going to be a ninja. There isn't one minute of the day where he isn't talking or thinking about ninjas. Heck, ninjas are basically what allowed me and him to bond, as we're both fans of the anime _Naruto_.

Though my interest in _Naruto_ is purely so that I can think of new fight sequences for my comic book, Ethan is a man obsessed. I don't know what it is about that guy. Did he have a dad who was a martial artist, who got brutally murdered by _another_ martial artist? I don't know what his case is, but I don't care. I never show any fear around him. I simply grin at him and agree that on a Naruto standpoint, ninjas are cool.

But that's enough about the obvious types. For those who aren't as obvious, what they choose to wear can be quite the mind opener. Who knew that Vance was a pirate freak? Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum! Time to collect thy booty, aye!

And then there's Sheldon. Ah, Sheldon. You know, he surprised me. I knew he was obsessed with doctor Crabblesnitch and all, but I never thought he would dress up as the guy. He got the brown suit, the pompous, haughty voice…everything! If it wasn't for his dark skin, I would have assumed I was looking at a mini-Crabblesnitch.

But the Jocks are the ones who surprised me the most. Just to let you know, the group's divided on whether they like me or not. The girls are fond of me now, but the guys still try to pound me on sight. So naturally, my impression of them (the guys, anyway) is that the majority of them are nothing but a big bunch of gorillas.

That's why I still haven't gotten over seeing Damon dressed in a blue jumpsuit, the same type that astronauts wear right before they suit up for their mission. It's something to think about, because it shows that, despite his boorish manners and pig-headed ways…Damon actually has a dream hidden in that thick skull of his, a dream that transcends the limitations of Earth and delves into the deep, unknown mysteries of space.

Too bad he sucks at math. He won't have a chance of getting into NASA.

I couldn't help but notice that Bo Jackson was dressed as a doctor, similar to what Gloria was wearing, and that Dan Wilson was dressed in a superhero costume, one that looked much better than, but was still similar to, what his younger half-brother, Thad Carlson, was wearing. Those guys haven't spoken to their Nerd siblings in a while, and any interaction between Bo and Gloria, any interaction between Dan and Thad, were all forced and uncomfortable.

It wasn't a coincidence that the costumes were similar.

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**VI.**

Pedro originally wanted to go as a mummy, which didn't suit him at all. I have no idea what he was thinking of—he cries every time we try to watch the movie, _Scooby Doo: Where's My Mummy?_ How could he handle being a mummy himself?

It was then he told me that he didn't have any other costumes. His mother hadn't sent him a new costume in two years, and it was too late to ask her for one now.

"To be honest," he admitted softly as we sat together in my room, "my mummy costume isn't even a real outfit. I just wrap myself in toilet paper until I'm covered from head to toe."

Wow. That was…sad.

"No problem," I found myself saying as I changed into my own costume. "I'll just give you one of mine. Meela sent two, and I sure as hell don't need an extra outfit." I wrapped a dark blue sweatband around my forehead, and turned to Pedro with a smirk. "So? What'dya think of me?"

I won't lie to you. With the combination of the sweatband, a dark blue, half-sleeved shirt, and a pair of white, knee-length shorts, I looked like Sasuke, a character from Naruto. Sasuke is the "sexy-yet-bad-good-guy-whom-all-the-fangirls-love." I personally don't like him at all, as he's an emotional asshole, but his personality is compelling to me, and I don't want to explain the reason why.

I showed myself off in front of Pedro, and I noticed that his face was a bit red. Huh. Have you ever noticed that Pedro always blushes? I swear, I think he has a problem with his blood circulation, or something. Every time I freakin' _breathe_ in his direction, he _always_ blushes!

Maybe he's coming down with a cold.

I reached under my bed and pulled out an orange jumpsuit, along with another blue headband. "Here's the Naruto one," I said to my Hispanic friend, who was still blushing up a storm. I threw the orange mass at him, and grinned when he clumsily caught it in midair. "It might be a little big on you, but that's how the outfit's supposed to look. Try it on! We'll be matching characters!"

"Y-you sure?" Pedro asked, his eyes wide and uncertain.

"Why else would I give it to you? Come on! You'll look cool."

"Thanks…you're the best, Benji…"

He was still blushing. I shook my head, and wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulder, which made him squeak in surprise. I laughed, before I said softly, "What're friends for?"

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**V.**

There was a reason why I asked Pedro to dress as Naruto.

I knew he had a problem with the Bullies. As one of the smallest boys in the school, he was an easy target for Russell's gang, and I often found him trapped in numerous lockers, stuck in endless bins of trash, and facedown on his bed, crying up a storm.

I planned to change that, using a little bit of psychology.

Each clique had their own rules on how to garner respect, but with the bullies, it's fairly easy to get them to accept you. All you had to do was get one of them—_any _one of them—to befriend you, and the rest would leave you alone for life. My ticket to a Bully-free paradise was Ethan. Whether he knew it or not, he was also going to be Pedro's liberator.

We passed by the black Bully not two seconds after I stepped out of my room. Pedro trembled in fear at the older boy, and for a moment, Ethan's eyes narrowed from behind his black ninja mask…until he realized what Pedro was dressed as.

"Hey!" Ethan exclaimed, reaching out a hand to feel the soft material of the orange jumpsuit. "You're dressed just like Naruto, kid!"

Pedro froze on the spot, not quite believing that he hadn't been beaten yet. I quickly took action, and gave Ethan a smirk. "No _duh_, man. Pedro here's one of the biggest Naruto fans in the world! Third to you and me, of course," I added quickly. "So…Pedro's cool with us, right?"

"Amen to that, Shortman. The shrimp's a ninja lover! Of course he's okay with me! But look at _you_!" Ethan lifted his mask off of his dark face, and let out a low whistle at my attire. "You look great, man! Sasuke all the way!"

I gave him a bow at the waist. "Who else, other than the bad boy?"

"Heh. Well, I'm outta here. The gang's gonna set up some Volcano 4000's in the Girls' Dorm, and no way am I gonna miss that!" With that, Ethan ran out of the dorm, his footsteps unnaturally loud for someone who was supposed to be a warrior of stealth.

I was about to leave myself, but I suddenly felt a hard hand on my shoulder, the grip so tight that I grimaced in discomfort. I looked up, and I felt the blood drain from my face when I saw that it was Gary.

Who was dressed as Scarface.

Who had his shirt unbuttoned to the fourth button, which showed _much_ of his developed chest.

WHY AM I COMMENTING ON THINGS LIKE THAT?

"What do you want, Tony Montana?" I asked, my tone delicately balanced between being rude and being indifferent. I heard Pedro whimper behind me, and I gently grasped the smaller boy's arm to comfort him. "The Columbian cocaine stash is in the other side of the country."

I hoped that Gary would back off at my semi-polite insult, but just my luck…the bastard smiled.

"Nice costume, Ben," he said in a dangerously sweet tone. "I suppose you didn't like the costume _I _sent you?" His fingers pulled at my sweatband lightly, the nail of his index finger gently scratching at the skin of my forehead. He pulled and scratched just a little bit more, before he let the sweat band snap back against my head with a loud _crack_!

"OW!" I rubbed by forehead angrily, and gave the older boy a glare. "You jerk! Why the fuck would I wear your costume? It's a freakin' _dress_! I'm not going to wear a dress! And that WIG? It makes me look like a girl!"

"But the dress brings out the beauty of your big, brown eyes," Gary said charmingly, which made me want to puke.

I have now defined Gary Smith as a complete asshole. His costume definitely did NOT represent him…he's a fucking jerk who toyed with poor twelve-year-old boys, while the real Scarface didn't like hurting children! I demand a costume change for Gary Smith! Will there not be a costume change for Gary Smith?! "Would you leave me alone?" I snapped. "Go bother someone else!"

"But I'm already bored with Petey," Gary drawled, and looked back at where a shadowed figure stood silently. I squinted at the figure, before my jaw hit the floor.

P-petey?!

"He looks like a teddy bear!" Pedro exclaimed, forgetting his fear for just a moment. "Hahahaha! He looks so funny!" In the distance, I heard Petey groan, and I saw him lower his head in shame.

It really _was_ kind of funny. The teddy bear outfit…it actually matches his soft-as-pudding personality. However, I said to Gary in a dry tone, "You _made_ him wear that, didn't you?"

"Maybe. Now, about that dress…"

"Fuck no." I saw Gary's eyes glint, a sure sign of danger, but I stood my ground. His Scarface crap didn't scare me. It didn't even completely match his personality. "You can't make me wear that." I turned my back to him and tried to leave with the now terrified Pedro, only to feel the older boy grab my arm angrily and pull me back.

I once again found myself looking into his eyes and, this time, I saw something that went beyond the normal pervasiveness that I usually saw in his stare. I realized that right now, in this very moment, he was showing his real self to me. There was something unbalanced, something _insane_ in the way he was looking at me, and for the first time, I was scared shitless of him, even more so than the time I "accidentally" kissed him.

It wasn't a coincidence, his choice of costume. Gary's outfit _did_ match his personality in terms of mental control and insanity, and I had a feeling that I would severely pay for my miscalculations.

And then Jimmy came along.

The fists flew…

-----------------

**IV.**

"Ben…"

"Don't say it, Jim."

"Shut up. You could have gotten hurt! Gary's a sick fuck! Don't you know that?"

"Well, right up until ten minutes ago…no. No, I _didn't_ know that. How's your eye?"

"It's fine. Look, Ben…"

"Jim, he wanted me to wear a dress! I refuse to lower my dignity like that! I'd rather throw myself off a building!"

"Well, if you're going to off yourself, do it on some other night. You look good tonight."

"Really? Thanks. And what are you? Jack Black, from _School of Rock_?"

"W-what?! NO! I'm Angus Young, one of the greatest musicians of all time!"

"That's a matter of opinion. But you still look good."

"Heh."

"What's so funny, Jim?"

"It's nothing. I just wish Petey would have your attitude once in a while. And that Pedro kid too…what's with the orange jumpsuit? It makes him look like a dork."

"Right. You do realize that Peter and Pedro are right behind us, don't you?"

"…oh."

Good ole' Jim. Good ole' lovable bastard.

-----------------

**III.**

Pedro and I are alone now. Jim went off to explore the town, and Petey decided to go hide in his room after a group of Nerds pointed at Petey's ridiculous costume and laughed.

There's a Halloween gala that's taking place in Bullworth Town, but that's not going to start until much later in the night. A lot of people from school were talking about it with excitement, but I'm not going and neither is Pedro. We're off to go trick o' treating.

Jimmy, upon learning this, laughed at me and told me that trick o' treating was for kids. I replied by flatly telling him that I _was_ a kid. Twelve years old, remember Jim? And besides, this was the one time of year where people could get free candy! What was the point of Halloween if one couldn't get free candy? Free candy, man!

It was better than going to that boring gala. What's to do there, anyway? Dance? Move around robotically with a group of people who barely liked me? I'd rather be myself, and get some delicious treats out of it.

Jim told me that I was acting pathetic.

I told him not to expect any of my candy afterwards.

He apologized, and told me to share whatever I got, especially the Neptune Bars.

I told him I would think about it.

…

It's bitterly ironic, our relationship.

-----------------

**II.**

Everyone else is already heading towards the town square. Even now, at five in the afternoon, three hours from the actual start time of the gala, I saw people prancing around in homemade tights, store brought spandex, and custom made silk.

"Super Thad" was hanging out in front of the comic book store, and was currently in a deep conversation with Madam Gloria. I saw Earnest Jones approach them, and I realized (though I didn't immediately believe it) that the Nerd leader was dressed as that guy who owns the Playboy magazines, red robes and all.

Run away from those two, Madam Gloria! Your intelligence and talent are wasted on these infidels! Use your gifts to promote the welfare of those below us! Don't use it on meaningless revenge! Don't use it to only advance yourself! Don't become what you despise!

-----------------

**I.**

Halloween happens to be one of my favorite holidays of the year.

It's one of the few times that Meela and I can forget the world around us, and live in the fantasy that we've created just between the two of us. Sure, Pedro's coming along for the ride, but I'm more than okay with that. I've already told Meela about him, and he's a welcome intruder.

God, I really need Meela right now. I missed her so much. I need her to hug me, to kiss me, to tell me that everything's gonna be okay. I want her to tell me that the bastard's gone, and that it's just gonna be the two of us forever and ever.

And Pedro too. If he likes Meela. But I'm sure he will. Meela's the most wonderful woman in the world.

I'll be bluntly honest with you. I have very few reasons for wanting to live, but Meela is the number one reason why I haven't shoved a gun into my mouth yet.

But let's not go there, okay? This is supposed to be a fun night.

Happy Halloween.

-----------------

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	4. Observation 4: The Five Senses

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: Even though Jimmy starts this drabble off in a very…hectic manner, he'll reveal what happened to him as the drabble progresses. And although Jimmy has the most undisciplined heart I've ever seen in a boy, in this chapter he will start maturing a bit.

Just a _little _bit.

Take note of the definitions. They give the clue to double meanings.

**Observation Four: The Five Senses**

_Touch: _

_1) to bring a bodily part (as the hand) into contact with so as to feel; _

_2) to affect the interest of: concern; _

_3) to move to sympathetic feeling_

--------------------

The first of Jimmy's five senses to return was his sense of touch.

Everything hurt. Despite his best mental efforts, he just couldn't get his body to work. Nothing wanted to function properly, and for a period of what seemed like an eternity, he was stuck in a world of darkness. Of garbled sounds he couldn't make out even if he tried. Of physical sensations and mental emotions that he couldn't identify.

And then…he _felt_.

He felt someone's soft, smooth hands cradling his head as he rested on a very warm, comfortable lap. He felt these hands gently pat his face, as if this person couldn't bear to slap him and was instead trying to rouse him with gentleness. He felt his own hands reaching upwards, wearily grasping the soft ones, and he felt a sense of relief when the soft hands reassuringly squeezed his own.

Even though he couldn't see, hear, or say anything, he felt…safe. Protected. He burrowed his head into the person's lap, relishing the feeling of the warm cotton against his cheeks. If he never regained any of his other four senses, he wouldn't have minded it, as long as this soft person remained with him.

--------------------

_Sound: _

_1) the sensation of hearing; _

_2) mechanical energy transmitted by longitudinal pressure waves that is the stimulus to hearing; _

_3) something heard: NOISE, TONE_

--------------------

His hearing was the next sense to return.

"Are you all right? Please…open your eyes…"

This was a woman's voice. It was low voice, one that had a gentle, flowing, but almost _tired_ quality to it. It was a voice that was filled with genuine worry and concern, something Jimmy only ever heard from Petey and Benji.

"Hey, lady! Move the deadbeat or else we're gonna throw him in the nearest dumpster!"

That was another woman, younger, but the voice was decidedly different. It was filled with annoyance, of frustration, and had none of the attractive quality the first woman had.

Strangely, the younger woman's voice had a strange similarity to the voices of many of the girls he dated in the past.

"You should call an ambulance! This poor boy needs a medic!" The first woman's voice was still soft and flowing, but there was an edge to it now, one that would have made the hairs on the back of his arms stand straight…if he had total control of his body.

"He's not bleeding, or anything!" the younger woman yelled back unconcernedly. "He'll be fine! Besides, it's his fault anyway! He shouldn't have been standing under your ladder when you fell on top of him."

"It's not _his_ fault! It's _mine_! I can't just leave him here!"

"Suit yourself! Just get his body off the streets!"

Jimmy heard the first woman cry out in frustration, before he once again felt her soft hands on his face. "Don't worry, boy," he heard her whisper. "I won't leave you here for these—these vultures! And to think, I offered to help these people because they looked overworked! They can finish decorating the gala on their own!"

"Don't worry," Jimmy croaked, finally getting his voice back. "Do whatever you want. I trust you, miss."

He could _feel _the woman's body tense, and he knew she was staring at him in shock. For a moment, he winced—any other woman, or at least the ones he knew, would have slapped him and accused him of playing a horrible trick on them.

However, he only heard a sigh, and a relieved, "Oh, thank heavens. You're okay…"

He felt her body relax.

And he felt himself smile.

--------------------

_Sight: _

_1) something seen or worth seeing; _

_2) the sense of which the eye is the receptor and by which qualities of appearance (as position, shape, and color) are perceived; _

_3) INSPECTION_

--------------------

_Oh, wow._

That was his initial reaction upon finally regaining the ability to see. He blinked, slowly taking in the woman's strange appearance. It was a little…difficult...to accept her bubblegum-pink hair, her dark blue headband, her plain red dress, and her dark blue boots.

She looked as if she came straight out of a ripped-off Japanese anime program.

"I should have been more careful," the woman said to him, as they made their way through the town. "But those people said they needed help setting up for this Halloween gala, and I just couldn't find the will to say no."

"Uh-huh."

He wasn't really listening to what she was saying. Instead, he observed. He slowly took note of her pale, oval face, along with her dark blue eyes. She seemed only a little older than him, maybe by five or six years at most. However, her body looked so slim and fragile that he got the feeling that if she fell over, she would smash into a thousand pieces, just like a porcelain figure.

"I should have asked someone to hold the ladder," the woman went on, her soft voice slowly becoming filled with guilt. "I shouldn't have tried to carry that heavy pumpkin by myself. Please forgive me for falling on you, and for dropping the pumpkin on your head!"

"It's okay, miss," he said mindlessly, not really paying attention to what he was saying to her. "Don't worry about it. Um…nice outfit, by the way." His gaze stopped at her mouth, which was now curving into a shy smile, as if she knew what he was really thinking and was modestly embarrassed at her choice of clothing.

"Maybe this isn't the ideal costume," the woman said quietly. She smoothed out a wrinkle in the skirt of the dress, and laughed bashfully. "However, I like it. Sakura is a character from Naruto that I admire, even if she is a little over the top at times…"

"Nah. I like the dress." But he wondered. Why did the word "Naruto" sound so familiar?

"Thank you." She turned her eyes to the ground. "I promised my little guy I'd wear this for him, so I'm glad _someone_ likes it, other than him."

Jimmy gave the woman a surprised look. Little guy? But that meant… "You're a mom?"

"Yes." There was no shame in her voice as she said it. She turned to Jimmy, her warm smile still etched on her face. "I don't look old enough, do I?"

"No," Jimmy said, before he choked and immediately bit his tongue afterwards. God, how stupid was he? He really _was_ tactless with his speech… "Oh crap, that's not what I meant, miss! I meant to say that you _do_ look old enough! Not that you're old-looking, or anything. Wait, that's not what I meant either. I mean…err…um…oh boy." He hung his head, not wanting the woman to see that he was flushing with embarrassment.

He was surprised when the woman only laughed, and linked her arm with his. "Don't worry about it," she said good-naturedly. "It happens, right?"

"Y-yeah."

The woman seemed to sense his distress, so she hurriedly changed the subject. "And what are you dressed as? Jack Black, from _School of Rock_?"

Jimmy blanched—this was the _second_ time today! The second time he was mistaken for the fat Jack Black! "No! I'm Angus Young! Angus Young, I tellsya!"

--------------------

_Smell: _

_1) to perceive the odor of by sense organs of the nose;_

_2) to have or give off an odor_

--------------------

"JIMMY!"

Still linked arm-in-arm, Jimmy and the woman turned around, only to come face to face with a _very_ upset Angie Ng. At least, Jimmy _thought_ it was Angie. He wasn't exactly sure, but the Asian girl appeared to be dressed as the title character from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

_Crap._ Jimmy felt the blood drain from his face. Angie looked as if she was going to smack him senseless with the white bunny rabbit doll she was holding…and who knew what was hidden inside the white stuffing?

"Who's this, Jimmy?" Angie asked, her voice just barely suppressing her anger as she glared at the pink-haired woman. "Is she a _friend_?"

"Um…I…" Jimmy stammered, looking for an answer that _wouldn't_ leave him curled on the ground, clutching at his balls in pain. However, the pink-haired woman simply grinned, and tightened her hold on Jimmy's arm. Jimmy's eyes widened, and he gave her a look that screamed, _what the hell do you think you're doing?_

"Jimmy darling," the woman cooed, "you haven't introduced me to this lovely young lady? For shame!"

"Huh?" Both Jimmy and Angie blinked at the woman in confusion, to which the woman responded by sighing and resting her head on Jimmy's shoulder, which made him stare incredulously at her.

Perhaps she had gone insane?

"For crying out loud, Saint Jimmy!" the woman groaned, cuffing him lightly on the head when she saw that he was still confused. "As your mother's cousin's brother-in-law's wife's stepsister, I thought you would be flattered that I came all this way to visit you! You should have told your lovely girlfriend about me! She might have gotten the _wrong_ idea about us!"

"Oh…r-right!" Jimmy agreed shakily, finally understanding what the woman was doing. He grinned nervously as Angie's angry look faded, replaced by one of utter confusion. "Angie," he said in what he hoped was a calm voice, "this is my relative—"

"—Meela," the woman finished quickly, extending her hand and shaking Angie's enthusiastically. "A pleasure to meet you, Angie."

The Asian girl looked lost, but she somehow managed to smile uneasily at Meela. "N-nice to meet you too," she said slowly, before she turned to Jimmy with a frown. "Jimmy, you promised me that you'd take me to the gala."

Jimmy blinked. "I did?"

"Yes! I waited for you in front of the Girls' Dorm for forty minutes!"

"Oh! Um…I'll meet you there later on, Angie," Jimmy promised, though he crossed his fingers behind his back. "I have to take Meela to the comic book store. She's new in town, and she doesn't know her way around yet…but I promise, after I drop her off, I'll meet you at the gala."

_Fingers crossed, fingers crossed…_

"Well…okay." The Asian girl hesitated, before she slowly walked off towards the direction of City Hall.

Once she was out of sight, Jimmy let out a sigh of relief, and gave Meela an appreciative smile. "Thanks," he said gratefully. "For a second there, I thought I was gonna have to suffer death by bunnies, courtesy of Angie Ng."

"Don't mention it, _cousin_," Meela joked, winking at him. "Still…you should treat your lady friends with more respect. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, you know."

"Don't I know it," Jimmy muttered, remembering the day he had broken up with Maria Lopez. "My balls are still smarting from my last _lady friend_. I'm not emotionally prepared for another beating, thank you very much."

Meela laughed, and once again rested her head against his shoulder.

What happened next was unintentional. Jimmy later blamed it on how physically close they were to one another, for she _was_ leaning on his shoulder, after all. It was impossible for a guy _not_ to notice what he had noticed, unless that guy had completely lost his sense of smell.

He had bent his head slightly to her direction, and had quietly inhaled her scent.

Coffee, strawberry muffins, and peach-scented body wash.

Thankfully, Meela hadn't noticed.

--------------------

_Taste:_

_1) EXPERIENCE, UNDERGO;_

_2) to try or determine the flavor of by taking a bit into the mouth;_

_3) to eat or drink especially in small quantities: sample;_

_4) to have a specific flavor_

--------------------

"Oh! That's where it was?" Meela stared at the Dragon Wings comic book store in surprise. "I passed by this place three times! And here I was, thinking that this place was a club, or something!"

"It sort of _is_," Jimmy admitted. "Some of the students at the academy are part of a role-playing club, and they usually play here."

"Ah." Meela nodded, before her eyes stopped on two boys, both of whom were sitting on the benches located just outside the store. One was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, and was looking around nervously, while the other had jumped out of his seat, and was running full force at Jimmy and Meela, until…

"MEELA!" Benji tackled the woman right around the middle, and the two toppled backwards to the ground as Meela struggled to hold onto an overexcited Benji. In the struggle, her pink hair flew _off_, and a long wave of black tresses flowed over Meela's face.

Neither Meela nor Benji noticed this, but Jimmy did. As he witnessed this scene with surprise, he could only stare as the normally quiet Benji exploded in a fit of uncharacteristic emotion. "Meela! I missed you soooo much! I missed you, I missed you, I MISSED YOU!"

Meela, in turn, hugged the young boy as hard as she possibly could. "Oh, darling!" she cried, her lips forming a small, sad smile on her face. "Oh, darling!" It seemed to be all she could say, before she smothered the small boy with kisses.

_Wait a minute…_

Jimmy's mouth dropped as he fit the puzzle pieces together. "You're Benji's _mom_?" he cried out in shock. "Benji's your _son_?" His mind traveled back to the photograph he had once seen on Benji's desk, of the pretty, black-haired woman who was tenderly holding Benji in her arms…the woman who looked far too _young _to be the mother of a twelve-year-old child.

Benji, who had now calmed down from his emotional outburst, stared at Meela, to Jimmy, then back to Meela again, who had now noticed that the top part of her costume was gone. "You two know each other? How?"

"It's a long story, darling," Meela said quietly as she stroked Benji's cheek. She retrieved the pink wig before she turned her head to the side, smiling when she caught sight of the nervous looking Pedro. "Why don't you go to your friend, Benji? I'll be with you two in a moment, and then we can start trick o' treating."

Benji looked unsure. "But _Meela_…"

"Now, Benji!"

The small boy pouted before he sulked off towards his Hispanic friend, frequently throwing glances behind him as he went. Meela sighed, before she turned to Jimmy with a tired look.

"Forgive him, Jimmy," she whispered, stuffing the pink mass into one of her dress pockets. "Benji always gets like that whenever I make a new friend. You may not have seen him at school, but—"

"I know him."

"You do?" Meela looked surprised, before she rubbed her chin. "Huh…well, Benji _did_ mention that he made some older friends."

"He's cool. I like him."

"Good. I'm glad…"

"But Meela…how old _are_ you?"

"It's almost eight," Meela said, changing the subject hurriedly. "I'd better get going if I want Benji to get a good haul from trick o' treating this year. You enjoy yourself at the gala with Miss Angie."

"But Mee—mmph!" Jimmy choked as Meela shoved a cherry lollipop into his mouth.

"Goodbye, Saint Jimmy!" she said cheerfully, before she headed off towards Pedro and a very wary looking Benji.

Jimmy pulled the candy out from the back of his throat, coughing as his body tried to heave the bit of saliva that had trickled into his lungs. "Helloa, my dear!" Jimmy heard Meela greet Pedro. Finally getting control over his breathing, he watched as the woman gently took both of the boys by the hand, and he watched Pedro's face blush as Meela's soft fingers closed over his. Benji didn't blush, but he looked content, a sight that Jimmy wasn't accustomed to seeing.

He couldn't intrude now. Those three were in their own little world, and he did not yet have the right to enter it.

Instead, he looked at the cherry lollipop in his hand, and he tasted its sweet-and-sour flavor on the tip of his tongue.

It was funny. Though the woman had almost killed him with a pumpkin, had nearly gotten him beaten up by Angie, and had choked him with a cherry lollipop, he wasn't exactly angry. She had done what she could to make up for the first two mishaps, and the third…well, it was a private matter.

For now, anyway.

_Saint Jimmy, huh? Well, that's a first._

He shoved the lollipop back into his mouth and headed off towards City Hall, grinning.

--------------------

**Meela is a character I spent a loooong time making. Please don't hate her, or dismiss her as a Mary Sue! (Give her a chance...like Benji!) And yes, she said "Helloa."**

**Reviews are nutritious, delicious snacks for the brains of writers. Don't let my brain starve!**

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	5. Observation 5: Parade Floats

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: CAMEO! I love cameo appearances. Especially if they happen to be big, buff, ex-Prefects. I love Max (and Seth), even if no one else does!

This drabble is one that needs to be read carefully; otherwise you won't understand what happened. Also, there's a surprise at the end.

**Observation Five: Parade Floats**

"How could this have happened?"

"It's unbelievable!"

"Do you know how long it took to find those floats? What am I suppose to tell the rental company now?"

"Just tell them, 'Sorry sir, but the balloon floats exploded right in the middle of the parade. Can we get our deposit back?'"

-------------------

"Are you sure I don't stink? I took like, ten showers before coming here, but I still think my hair smells a bit off…"

"You smell fine," Officer Max MacTavish said gently. "Just tell me what happened, okay?"

Karen Johnson fidgeted nervously, resisting the urge to sniff at her clothing as she took a shaky breath. "We were all at the gala," she said. "It was okay for the first couple of hours…I mean, the decorations were all set up, and everything looked really cool…"

"Anything out of the ordinary?" Max asked, quickly jotting everything down in a small notepad. "Any suspicious activities?"

"Not really. I mean, what could be out of the ordinary on Halloween? Orange and black streamers on the lamp posts, giant floats of pumpkins and witches, everyone wearing scary costumes…there was even this one guy who was dressed as Hugh Heffner, that Playboy magazine guy!"

"Uh…huh." Max paused, before deciding _not_ to include that bit of information. "And where exactly were you during the gala?"

"I was with the other Jocks," Karen replied, twisting a strand of blonde hair between her fingers. "We were all dancing pretty early on in the night, so we were in City Hall when it happened. I remember…that was when the Ghost parade float passed us, and then…"

The young Jock faltered off, shivering at the memory.

"No one in your group knows anything about why the floats exploded?" Max pushed on, tapping the bottom tip of his pen against his chin. "No one acted suspicious that night, or anything of the sort?"

Karen shook her head. "No. Everyone was just dancing all night…except for me. I was hoping to meet this boy I really liked, but he was off with some _other _girl…" Karen growled, and clenched her hands into fists. "I hate Darcy Harrington…"

"Let's get back on track," Max laughed nervously, seeing a hint of jealousy in the young girl's eyes. "So, if no one in your group knows anything, do you think you can point me towards someone who _might_?"

"Um…" The blonde Jock scratched her head. "You might want to ask the Nerds. They'll probably know why the parade floats blew up, them being geniuses and all."

-------------------

"The parade floats were full of shit."

"I know. Those balloons really sucked in appearance, didn't they? That's why I stayed home."

"No, no! I meant that they were _really_ full of shit! Dog feces were hidden inside the floats!"

"WHAT?! That means that when the floats exploded, everyone was covered with…ew."

"Exactly."

-------------------

Gloria Jackson crossed her arms in annoyance. "I find it to be an insult."

"Find what to be an insult?" Max asked, raising a brow.

"You simply assumed that my clique knew what was going on. Well, I regret to inform you that we know just as much information as everyone else in the academy. We were also hit with the exploding dog excrement, thank you very much."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to give you the impression that you were suspects."

"You're doing a poor job of it, officer. For your information, we were near the Dragon Wings comic book store when it happened. We were just minding our own business when the Pumpkin float that was passing by us suddenly exploded! Thad Carlson is still attempting to get the smell of dung out of his skin!"

"Miss, we have very little to go on at the moment, and we need to eliminate as many leads as possible—"

"Why don't you go ask the Jocks where they were?" Gloria snapped. "This seems to be just the sort of thing they would do."

Max sighed. Nerds…why did they have to be so defensive all the time? _They're no better than Seth…_ "Well," he said slowly, not wanting to upset the female Nerd any further, "I already interviewed the athletes of the school, Miss Jackson. They claim to be innocent, and I already have several eyewitnesses placing them all at City Hall when the feces explosion occurred."

Gloria pursed her lips, before she shrugged. "I suppose you're right. Saying that they were responsible for the chaos would be giving them too much credit, anyway."

"How about telling me what you saw?" Max said, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Were any particular group of students acting…off?"

"How would I know? The only students I conversed with that night were Thad Carlson and Earnest Jones. But…" Gloria thought for a moment.

"Yes?" Max picked up his pen. "What is it?"

"There was something peculiar I noticed early in the gala, but I didn't think to suspect _them_."

"Who?"

"There was this group of older students dressed as Grim Reapers. I saw them early in the evening, before the gala even started. Their faces were covered, so I couldn't tell who they were…but one of them seemed to be a young man dressed in red, with a white mask over his face. Also, there was a young brunette girl with extraordinarily large breasts, as well as many other young women."

"O-oh really?" The young officer blushed, picturing the busty brunette briefly in his mind before he coughed and tried to regain his focus.

"I don't think she's from Bullworth Academy," Gloria continued. "Earnest Jones is an associate of mine, and he knows all of the girls in town. He told me that he didn't know who the brunette was, though he _did_ want to."

"Huh." Max made a quick note of this, though his face was still blushing.

"They seemed to be from a high class group. One of them had an English accent, and I saw that one of the girls had a gold watch on her left wrist."

-------------------

"The entire decorating staff was found in an abandoned building two blocks away from the gala!"

"WHAT?"

"I'm serious! They were found tied and gagged two blocks away in an abandoned building! They said that they were attacked by these young kids wearing Grim Reaper outfits!"

"God!"

"The ones in charge of the floats were there too. Those rotten scoundrels!"

-------------------

"Do you realize how _upset_ I am, officer?" Darcy Harrington paced back and forth in front of him, her little face screwed up with frustration and rage. "My red shoes were covered with muck and filth last night! They were _expensive _shoes, I'll have you know!"

Max rubbed his throbbing temples. "Miss Harrington, if we can get back to the interview…"

"Do you know what state Gord Vendome is in right now?" the Preppie girl continued, thoroughly ignoring the police officer in front of her. "He's still in _shock_ over having his Knave of Spades costume covered in dog excrement! He hasn't come out of his room in ages! He's sobbing in the corner, curled in the fetal position while he's rocking back and forth, sucking his thumb…"

Max blinked. "Really?"

"_Yes_." Darcy stopped pacing, and gave Max an angry stare. "Why haven't you caught those vandalizing miscreants yet? I demand their execution! _Off with their heads_!"

"Now Miss Harrington," Max said, holding up his hands in order to pacify the enraged girl, "let's be reasonable. Seeing as we have no idea who did this, we can't even _arrest_ anyone yet, let alone execute them."

"Humph." Darcy stuck her little pink tongue out at Max, before she sat down huffily on a nearby chair. "Anyway, what do you want? I have a lunch date with my precious Benji-poo in an hour, and I want to get him properly dressed before we go to that restaurant."

"I came to ask you a few questions," Max said, feeling very sorry for whoever this _Benji-poo_ was. "Some students told me that you were one of the few civilians who managed to escape the explosion unscathed—"

"_Unscathed_?!" Darcy shrieked, her high pitched voice making Max wince. "My shoes are still at the cleaners, because the muck won't come off! You call that _unscathed_?!"

"You're better off than most of the other students!" Max corrected hastily, desperately wanting the high-pitched sound to cease. "Also you weren't one of the people who were inside a café, like Zoe Taylor and Adrian Aquaberry, so you had a better view of what happened."

Darcy sniffed, before she turned her little face to the side. "I _don't_ know what happened," she said, her tone frustrated. "I was just trying to get my boyfriend to dance with me when this giant Witch float just explodes out of nowhere! If Benji hadn't pulled me and that Pedro boy under that outdoors café table…oh, I don't even want to _think_ about it!"

"Sounds like your boy is a quick thinker," Max observed.

The angry look suddenly dropped from Darcy's face, and she immediately brightened. "That's why I love him so!" she exclaimed, her voice now cheery and lighthearted. "I know he's a commoner and all…but underneath that flat, deadpanned exterior lies the heart and soul of a White Knight! At least that's what Gord said, anyway."

"Uh…huh." Max backed away slightly in his chair. "Do your moods always change this quickly, Miss Harrington?"

The young Preppie girl blinked. "What?"

"N-nothing! Um, could you tell me where I can find this boyfriend of yours?"

-------------------

"You were one of the lucky ones?"

"Yeah. A true blue survivor, baby."

"How wow! How'd you do it? The poop and sludge were everywhere!"

"Well, I saw this kid diving under a table with his girl, so I decided to do the same thing!"

-------------------

The wheat-haired boy looked up from his sketchpad with narrowed eyes. "Look," Benjamin Shortman grumbled, "I don't care what Miss Darcy told you. I'm not her boyfriend."

Max took a sip of Beam Cola as he and the small boy sat on the stone steps outside of the library. "I'm just telling you what I heard, kid," Max replied quietly, balancing the half-full can precariously on his knee. "She seemed serious about you, so I just assumed—"

"Never assume," Benji said, his tone quick, short, and to the point. "She's delusional at times."

"Ah." Max turned away awkwardly, lifting his soda can to down the rest of the contents.

Damn. Talking to this kid was like trying to talk to a brick wall.

"I'm assuming you don't have any real leads," Benji said suddenly. Max glanced at the boy, who was erasing something in his drawing. After blowing away the eraser shavings, the child looked up at him with his large brown eyes. "I'm sorry sir, but I don't know what happened at the explosion. I was out trick o' treating with my mom all night along with my best friend, Pedro de la Hoya. I only went to the gala because someone was following us, and I wanted to get him off our tail…"

Max raised a brow. "Following you?"

"Yeah. I've been followed a lot lately…Miss Darcy's been sending spies after me." Benji shivered in disgust. "I almost regret saving her last night. I think I've just made her even more obsessed with me."

"Sorry kid. But hey, at least she's cute, right?"

"Pfft." Benji snorted, before he pulled two cherry lollipops out of his pocket. He offered one to Max, seemingly in disinterest. "Want it? I got a good haul last night, so I have a bunch left in my room. Unless Jim ate them behind my back," Benji added bitterly.

The officer took the candy and grinned. "Jim?"

"Oh, don't worry. He's just an annoying senior who's developing this irritating habit of stealing my food. Other than that, he's an okay guy."

"Just your everyday asshole," Max commented, sucking on the candy. "I have a friend like that. I've just learned how to cook, and since he _can't_, he takes every opportunity to freeload off me."

Benji sighed. "It's a hard world for us pushovers."

"Tell me about it."

Max sucked on his candy a little while longer, before he noticed that the kid was still drawing something in his sketchpad. Max craned his head to the side, until he caught a glimpse of the pencil-sketched picture.

It was a picture of a young man, who was dressed in medieval type armor. With his near bald head, his squinting eyes, his freckled cheeks, and his perpetual scowl, Max noted that the man was similar in appearance to a certain student he didn't want to remember.

Jimmy Hopkins.

-------------------

"You know what I heard?"

"What?"

"I heard that the floats were rigged by a student!"

"A student from Bullworth? I KNEW IT!"

"No, no…I heard that it was from a rival school."

"There's a rival school? Well, you learn something new everyday!"

-------------------

"It was this guy wearing red," Jimmy said decisively. "I saw this jerk standing on top of the Witch float just before it exploded. He was dressed in red, and he had a white mask on his face…"

"Do you know who he was, Hopkins?" Max asked, his tone one of pure disbelief. The officer leaned against the side of the Boys' Dorm building and frowned. "Can you give me a name to back up your theory? Because I have to tell you, you're one of the top suspects on our list right now…"

"It wasn't me," Jimmy snapped, glaring at Max in dislike. "What's with the cold treatment, anyway? I thought you were supposed to be fair to civilians as a cop."

"Define _fair_."

"Is this because I threw a few packets of itching powder at your face during your last year at Bullworth? Well, even if that's the case, you still don't have the right to treat me like a criminal."

Max growled, almost snapping the pen in his hand in half. "Well, _Hopkins_…can you give me proof that you were with someone else during the explosion?"

"Petey and Gary saw me. People might describe seeing a giant teddy bear that was being held hostage by Scarface during the gala. Well, that was them."

"Peter Kowalski is on patrol at the moment, and Gary Smith told me that he couldn't recall you being at the event."

Jimmy's eyes widened. "WHAT? That jerk!"

Max resisted the urge to laugh cruelly. Served him right for choosing the wrong friends. "Well kid, unless you can give me another name, I'll have to—"

"Meela!"

"Huh?" Max blinked. "Who?"

"Meela Shortman! She's Ben Shortman's mother—she'll vouch for me! I saw her when she and Ben came to the gala. It was right after they went trick o' treating! You can ask them!"

Ben Shortman? As in _Benjamin _Shortman? Well, at least Max now knew who Benji's "Jim" was. Oh good lord. "You know what? Just forget about it, okay Hopkins? Just tell me what you saw, and who you think the red guy on the Witch float was."

Jimmy snorted. "Now you want to know? You cops really _are_ jerks."

"Hopkins, I'm warning you—"

"I think it was the Head Boy from this school in Sacher City. Stewart Lee."

Max blinked. "Who?"

"Stewart Lee," Jimmy repeated. "He's this Asian kid who's a total nut job. He almost _killed_ a student here, during a swimming meet, and I heard him yell something to the crowd before the floats exploded." Jimmy paused, before he added determinedly, "I _know_ it was Stewart's voice I heard. Can't convince me otherwise, no way, no how."

"What did he say?" Max asked, skeptically writing everything down.

"Something like, 'Ladies and gentlemen! I hope you're enjoying the party! Now, before the night can continue, I'd just like to tell you all one thing…HAPPY HALLOWEEN!'" Jimmy then made a loud whooshing sound while waving his arms grandly in the air. "And there you have it. _Boom_. Dog shit everywhere, raining all over the place like some fucked up scene from a horror movie."

Max let out a low whistle, jotting down the details. "That's the most informative description I've heard all afternoon, Hopkins. Oh, just have to wonder…I heard that you weren't hit with that much crap."

"I grabbed an umbrella from this old guy who was standing next to me. I propped it open just before the crap hit me, and I managed to save Meela too."

"Meela?"

"Ben's mom…who's actually nice looking, if you get past the fact that she's a little too skinny. And a bit too tall. And always seems a bit too tired—"

"I get it," Max snapped, getting up as he shoved his notepad into his pants pocket. "Is that all the info you have?"

Jimmy waved a hand in the air. "'Tis all, officer. I doubt you'll get much more information than that."

Max sighed. He pushed himself off of the wall of the Boys' Dorm building, brushing the bits of dirt from the back of his shirt as he headed towards the school gates. He passed by the wheat-haired child from earlier, who was headed off towards Jimmy Hopkins with a worried look on his face.

He slowed his walk, straining his ears to hear what the child was going to say.

"Jim!" Benji whispered faintly. "Have you heard?"

"Heard what, Ben? And if this is about Stewart, I already told Officer Dickwad all about him…"

Max clenched his hands into fists. _Don't lose your cool, don't lose your cool…_

"No, no! I'm talking about the new arrival!"

"You mean that new Greaser, Ace?"

"NO! The new Prep, Adrian Aquaberry!"

-------------------

**Read and review for more. Seriously.**


	6. Observation 6: Philanderer

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: And here's where things get…interesting. You're gonna love Adrian. He's such an idiot savant.

**Observation Six: Philanderer**

Jimmy had had his share of bad girlfriends, but in Benji's case…well, he really felt bad for the kid. Seriously, who wouldn't feel bad if their friend was in the clutches of a Harrington? And in the clutches of an _obsessed_ Harrington, to make matters worse?

But for a dead man walking, Benji was taking the matter surprisingly well.

"Please let go of me, Miss Darcy."

"But Benji-poooooo!" Darcy whined, making Jimmy wish he could rip Darcy's lips off despite Benji being right in front of him. "I want to go to this new restaurant with you! They're serving delicious seafood today, and I wanted to sample some cocktail shrimp! Besides…you promised me that we could have a wonderful lunch date together!" She tightened her grip on Benji's arm, and Jimmy thought he saw a quiver in Benji's lower lip.

"Must you call it a _date_?" Benji protested pathetically, tugging at his captive limb. "Can't we just call it a social outing between two…acquaintances?"

Darcy's jaw dropped. "_Acquaintances_?!" she shrieked, making both Benji and Jimmy wince. "How dare you rank me as a lowly acquaintance? I am your _lover_, Benji-poo! YOUR LOVER!"

The wheat-haired boy laughed nervously, before he gave Jimmy an imploring look. _Help me,_ the look seemed to say, but Jimmy merely shrugged in response.

_Can't help you there, Ben, _the shrug answered back. _Sorry, but you're on your own…_

"Hopkins, I require your assistance!"

Jimmy looked up, his brow rising ever so slightly at seeing a disheveled Gord running towards him. The Prep's appearance was a historical first in Jimmy's book—normally Gord never appeared in public if he looked anything less than immaculate. Why, the boy practically threw a tantrum if even one thread unraveled from his shirt.

However...here he was. With his shirt only half tucked into his pants. With his belt missing. With his hair uncombed, and…was that a fuzzy pink slipper on his foot?

"What do you want, Gord?" Jimmy asked as the Prep ran up to him, bending over and panting as he struggled to catch his breath. "I thought you said that you were too 'traumatized' by the Halloween Gala Shit Explosion to ever come out of your room again."

Finally getting his wind back, Gord gave him a glare as he poked a perfectly manicured fingernail against Jimmy's chest. "Oh, be quiet, Hopkins. I have very little time for chitchat. Adrian Aquaberry is lounging at Harrington House _as we speak_, and I must look my best before I present myself in front of him!"

Benji suddenly paled, but this went unnoticed. Jimmy looked Gord over, and snorted. "Not up to your usual standard, Gord. You look awful…and I say that with the best of intentions."

"I happen to agree," Darcy said, her tone haughty. "You're a visual disgrace."

"Oh, you're all so _cruel_!" Gord sobbed, burying his face in his hands. "All I wanted was the midnight black satin shirt I left in your room last week, Hopkins! I NEED it!"

"Why is your shirt in Jim's room?" Benji asked Gord curiously, a question that went thoroughly unanswered.

"It's currently the most popular design from the Aquaberry family!" Gord continued to Jimmy. "If I don't wear it, Adrian will _never_ be impressed with me! I'll never enter his social circle, I'll never gain his trust, and I'll never have the opportunity to become his _special _friend! Oh, the _humanity_!"

With that, Gord began to bawl, only to be slapped into submission by Darcy Harrington. "Oh, stop your blubbering!" the little girl shouted. "Honestly, just wear something else! The Aquaberry hoodie is just as good as the midnight satin! If you want, we can all go back to Harrington House, and I'll—"

"You know what, Miss Darcy?" Benji cried suddenly, a faux smile suddenly overtaking his facial features. "I think I'll go on that lunch date with you after all! After all, who _doesn't_ love shrimp cocktail?"

"I don't," Jimmy replied.

"Shut up, Jim..."

"Huh?" Darcy blinked in confusion. "But Benji-poo, you seemed disinterested in lunching with me just a few minutes ago."

"Am I not entitled to change my mind?" Benji replied smoothly, before he took one of Darcy's hands and held it against his face. The mocha-haired girl gasped, and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Benji-poo…"

"Shh." Benji pressed a finger against her lips. "Don't speak. Enjoy the moment. I realize that I haven't been treating you fairly Miss Darcy. I should treat you like the queen you truly are…"

"Oh my goodness!" Gord suddenly gushed, his eyes sparkling and bright. "That's so ro-man-tic!" He sighed, before he turned to Jimmy with a frown. "How come _you_ never say such wonderful things to me?"

"Ugh," Jimmy grumbled. This was too mushy for his tastes...

…but it seemed _just _mushy enough for Little Miss Harrington. Darcy squealed at the uncharacteristically romantic words that poured from Benji's lips, and she hugged the wheat-haired boy's arm as hard as she could. Benji, in the meantime, slowly (and painfully) lead her towards the school gates, his face a complicated mix of looking disgusted…and looking relieved.

Jimmy sighed.

_Ben, sometimes I just don't get you…_

"Come on, Hopkins!" Gord shrieked, nearly startling Jimmy out of his skin. "I need my shirt back! I simply must look my best to impress Adrian!"

With that, the Prep grabbed Jimmy's arm and dragged him inside the Boys' Dorm.

----------------

Adrian Aquaberry was a _polished _individual.

With long, black hair that was tied back into a ponytail, the fifteen-year-old boy was physically average in height, but he had a lean build under his white Aquaberry sleeveless hoodie. He looked—Jimmy had no other word for it—very polished, and his dark eyes seemed to sparkle as he flashed a charming smile in Pinky Gautier's direction.

"What a perfect picture of loveliness," he breathed, walking across the grand floor of Harrington House to take Pinky by the hand. Ignoring the shocked and angry looks that the other Preps sent him (specifically Tad Spencer), Adrian bent down and brushed his lips sensually against Pinky's knuckles, making the girl squeak in embarrassment.

_Wow_, Jimmy thought. _The kid doesn't waste any time with the ladies._

"Oh!" Pinky blushed a bright scarlet. "A-Adrian, I hardly know you."

"Time matters not in the prospects of love," Adrian whispered in his accented voice, looking up at the now beet-red Pinky with lusty eyes. "A year, a day, a _second_—what does it matter? Love has already seized my heart, and I can't seem to shake myself free of this fiery emotion…to you, my fair princess…I thank you."

Pinky gulped audibly. "W-why?"

"I was worried that this school would be lacking in beautiful women. I had _nightmares_ just from _thinking_ about such horrid possibilities. But upon seeing you, my lovely goddess of the heavens, my heart soars with both relief and elation!" He bent down to kiss her hand again, but he was suddenly shoved off of the Preppie girl by a very enraged Tad.

"You—you philanderer!" Tad cried, shoving his hands against Adrian's chest. "I don't care if you're the fourth child of the incredible Aquaberry family! I will not allow any sexual harassment on honorable women such as Pinky!"

"S—sex—_sexual harassment_?!" The boy gasped and clutched a hand to his heart, as if he had been greatly insulted. "Spencer, how could you say such a horrible thing?! I assure you, I _never_ sexually harass any woman! I merely take the time to treat each member of the fairer sex as the queen she deserves to be treated as! Is that a crime?"

"YES!" Tad screamed, startling everyone in the room. "If the woman is not interested in the man who is making advancements on her, then his actions are considered to be SEXUAL HARASSMENT!"

"Um, Tad?" Parker cut in nervously. "Maybe you should calm down…your accent's faltering a bit…"

"BE SILENT, PARKER!"

"I never knew that!" Adrian looked away, ignoring Tad as his expression suddenly became thoughtful. "If the woman is not interested in the man who is making advancements on her, then his actions are considered to be sexual harassment? So _that_ would explain why that commoner girl placed a restraining order on me. Goodness me, that explains a lot…"

"Creep," Jimmy mumbled, leaning against a far wall of Harrington House. Apparently Adrian had good hearing, for the new Prep glanced in his direction.

"Who's that?" Adrian asked curiously.

"Never mind him!" Gord interrupted, pushing Tad and Pinky aside as he stepped in front of a still pensive Adrian. Nervously smoothing out his slightly rumpled satin shirt ("I swear I'll murder you for these wrinkles, Hopkins!") he gave Adrian a shaky smile, and said, "I believe everything you said. Taking time to treat your partner with respect…loving him or her with every fiber of your being…I can't believe that a perfect romanticist like you still exists in the world! I thought I was the only one!"

"Why, thank you!" Adrian smiled. "It's wonderfully refreshing to meet another person who still believes in the idea of true romance. Love is the only reason why anyone should even be alive, if you ask me."

"My sentiments exactly," Gord agreed, nodding. "I think that—eep!"

"Whoa!" Jimmy's eyes widened, and all of the Preps in the room gasped. Adrian had suddenly pulled Gord into his arms, wrapping his arms tightly around the small Prep's waist as he pulled their bodies close. Gord's eyes were wide with shock as Adrian leaned his head in, until their lips were only inches apart.

"You know," Adrian whispered, his eyes sparkling in the exact same manner as when he had spoken to Pinky, "I happen to _love_ it when I meet another person who shares my sentimental beliefs."

"U-uh…" Gord blushed and stammered, trying and failing to find the right words to say. Adrian, seeing his distress, grinned and slid a hand up Gord's back, his long fingers creating a teasing trail up Gord's spine. "Oh, GOD!" Gord cried out, and Jimmy inwardly grinned. Gord's sweet spot was always located in the small of his back…

"What impropriety is _this?_" Tad screeched in horror, while the other Prep boys looked away in disgust. Jimmy threw a quick glance at Pinky—she seemed to be _very_ upset at having been tossed aside so quickly by the new arrival.

Had she forgotten she was engaged to Derby? Oh well…

"I enjoy the appeals of a gorgeous girl," Adrian breathed, his voice thick and husky. He pulled Gord closer, until their lips were just brushing against one another. Gord stopped breathing altogether, which was Adrian's cue to whisper, "However…who am I to be biased, and resist the charms of a beautiful boy?"

Without another word, Adrian pressed a gentle kiss against Gord's lips, which was too much for the poor boy. Gord promptly fainted dead to the floor, his body softly thumping against the waxed wood as he passed out.

There was a long stretch of silence for the next ten minutes.

"Oh dear," Adrian murmured, bending down and shaking Gord's shoulder. "Did I overdo it? Oh, Ace is going to give me such a hard time if he finds out about this…OW!" Adrian yelped when Pinky slapped him hard in the face, and he stared at the enraged girl incredulously. "What did I do?"

"You—you—you're worse than Jimmy and Derby combined!" Pinky screamed, before she ran out of Harrington House, sobbing.

Tad, forever the opportunist, ran after her. "Pinky! Pinky, wait! I'll beat up that philandering ruffian if you wish!"

Jimmy watched as the remaining Preps slowly headed off to their rooms, giving Adrian disgruntled looks as they left. When they were all gone, Jimmy chuckled and walked towards the uneasy Adrian, who was still holding a hand to his stunned cheek.

"Goodness gracious," Adrian muttered, looking up at Jimmy with a wide eyed stare. "Is everyone so—so emotionally fragile in this academy?"

"I'm afraid so," Jimmy replied, stepping over the still comatose Gord as he helped Adrian to his feet. "No offense, but flirting with Gord right after you flirted with Pinky was a pretty stupid move. And in front of her, too!"

"But I can't _help_ myself!" Adrian whined. "They were both so _attractive_!"

Jimmy snorted. "They're okay."

"Picky, aren't you?" Adrian chuckled, before he gave Jimmy an up and down stare. "I say…you're dressed rather commonly. Who are you?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm Hopkins. Jimmy Hopkins."

Adrian smiled his charming smile, and extended his hand. "Adrian Aquaberry, fourth child of Arthur and Anna Aquaberry, brother to Angelina, Andrew, and Amelia Aquaberry, and executive developer of the Aquaberry Cruiser."

"The Aquaberry Cruiser? You mean that lame ass bike? Pfft, it's okay, but it can't jump worth for beans. My red BMX is better."

"WHAT?!"

----------------

**Just so you know, I actually saw Tad and Pinky holding hands in the game. You know, that pairing actually works for me. Tad and Pinky. The ladder-climbing, physically and mentally abused nouveau riche, paired with the spoiled girl who's neglected by her fiancé. Yeah.**

**Read and review for more.**


	7. Observation 7: Ironic Hindsight

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: This is the first installment of Benji's comic, which features the disgraced mercenary, Jordan Hemmingway, and his journey to bring peace to the near-ruined kingdom of Bulioth.

I can't believe I have to say this, but…you MUST read my other story, _Next Contestant_, before reading _Number One Contender_. There's no if, and, or but about it! _Number One Contender_ is essentially the ending to _Next Contestant_, so one won't make sense without the other!

Italic writing shows Jordan's perspective. Normal writing shows Jimmy's perspective.

**Observation Seven: Ironic Hindsight**

_Jordan didn't know how long he had been in prison, but even if he had, it wouldn't have mattered._

_He faced the same routine on a daily basis. He faced the same two meals, which were often spoiled and hardly edible, on a daily basis. He faced the same four dilapidated walls on a daily basis. He faced the same agonizingly miniscule window on a daily basis. He faced the same outfit, the same mattress, the same chamber pot, the same guards, the same goddamn insults, all on a daily __**fucking**__ basis—after some time of monotonous mental torment, Jordan was able to sum up the prison system in three simple words: bleak, boring, and bothersome. _

_After days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months, Jordon honestly wouldn't have noticed the rising and setting of the sun at all, had it not been for the fact that as each day passed, he was a little dirtier. Every morning, sunlight would creep through his tiny window, and serve as his only comfort that he was still alive for another day. In the evening, as the tiny ray of light faded, Jordan forcefully reassured himself that he was one day closer to freedom._

_Too bad he had no set date on this so called "freedom". He swore to himself that if he ever got out alive, he would never—__**never**__—take any risks that were so abysmally stupid again._

_He shuffled around on his mattress, feeling his chains shift around his body. He was thinner than when he had first been arrested. The iron shackles around his wrists and ankles had grown loose, but not loose enough to slip over the bones of his hands and feet. Very few prisoners had to wear the chains. Only those King Grumpersnot particularly disliked were forced to wear them, particularly peasants, rowdy bandits, and every so often the Royal Treasurer, when she was forced to tell the king that there wasn't any more money to spend._

_Jordan wasn't any of those things. His often remarried mother was rich enough to rival even the wealthiest of noblemen. He was a mercenary, not a bandit, though he sometimes kept some of the gold he found on the bodies of his dead targets. But even if Grumpersnot didn't know Jordan's family name (which he didn't) or that he wasn't a thieving jackass (which he, again, didn't), it mattered not to the old fool. Jordan had committed a crime against the kingdom of Bulioth, thus he could not be allowed to escape._

_His cell door was a gate of rusty iron bars. Every so often, royal guards looked at Jordan as they passed by during their rounds, often to laugh in his face or mock him. But there were guards who were especially cruel, guards that wore dark blue armor instead of the classic grey. Jordan was unfamiliar with these men, as he hadn't spent much time in Bulioth before his arrest, and was more than a little upset when one blue guard in particular, a large one with skin as dark as night, continually seemed to catch Jordan with his head in his hands._

"_What?" the dark-skinned guard would always say, laughing as he leaned mockingly against the bars. "Haven't you escaped yet, oh mighty mercenary?"_

_Every time he laughed, Jordan spat vulgar insults at him. It wasn't particularly the smartest thing to do, but Jordan couldn't help himself. He couldn't keep in an insult when it wanted to come out. At any rate, it didn't help matters. Whatever Jordan screamed, the blue guard would only laugh more in response._

----------------------

Jimmy lay down against Benji's bed, munching slowly on a Neptune Bar that he had found in Benji's Halloween Candy Stash.

_Jesus, Ben. You can do better than that._ _Hiding the treats underneath the bed? How childish. _

Jimmy shook his head. For a Nerd-in-denial, Benji was surprisingly obvious at times. Then again, the kid _was _only twelve years old. Pitting the kid's mentality against that of an experienced seventeen-year-old wasn't really fair…but Benji's dry, sarcastic manner often made him appear as if he was older than he really was.

The door slowly creaked open and Jimmy, expecting it to be Benji, prepared himself for the verbal onslaught that he knew was sure to come. It was almost routine—Benji hated it whenever Jimmy stole his food, and as the level of comfort between the two boys grew, the younger had been showing his displeasure more and more as of late. However, Jimmy just couldn't help himself.

Seriously, for a boy who didn't have much money, Benji really did know how to get some good food.

"S-sir?"

Jimmy looked up, and saw a very confused Pedro standing next to the bed. Well, that was unexpected. Where the hell was Benji?

"What are you doing here, sir?" the Hispanic boy asked curiously. "This room belongs to me and Benji…not that you're not welcome here, sir."

"I was just enjoying a snack," Jimmy replied, shoving the last of the chocolate Neptune Bar into his mouth. He chewed, swallowed, and grinned as Pedro's eyes fell upon the other five wrappers that littered the bed. "Neptune Bars are my favorite, but the Chocó Cherry Clusters are good too. Want one?"

"T-that's Benji's candy!" Pedro cried, his eyes widening in horror. "He worked really hard to get those, sir! You should stop eating right away!"

"Oh come on," Jimmy protested. "How much work could it have been to get six candy bars? Besides, he has like, thirty more under his bed."

"But still!" Pedro stomped his little foot against the floor. "He had to sweet talk a lot of the old ladies so that he'd get more candy than anyone else!"

"…sweet-talk?"

Pedro nodded. "He made this really cute face, and told the old ladies that they were really pretty. The ladies were so happy that they gave him a lot of candy! They gave me a lot too, because I was with him."

_EW!_

Jimmy seriously considered gagging on the spot, but feeling that Benji wouldn't be too pleased with finding his bed covered with vomit, Jimmy swallowed the bile that was rising in the back of his throat. "No one told him that he had to work so hard," Jimmy managed to say after forcing his stomach to settle down. "Besides, the candy was free, wasn't it?"

He hoped that this would be enough to pacify the Hispanic boy, but Pedro became even more agitated than before. "YOU'RE MEAN, SIR!" Pedro screamed. "As soon as I find out where Benji is, I'm telling him what you did!" With that, Pedro ran out of the room, leaving a nonplussed Jimmy behind.

…great. Now what was he going to do?

The older boy thought blankly for a few minutes, before he lay back down onto the bed and grabbed a Choco Cherry Cluster. Benji wouldn't mind if he ate a few candy bars. Besides, Jimmy was a growing boy, and he needed to eat too, right? That was what Jimmy told himself anyway, as he chewed on the candy.

Still. He hadn't seen the wheat-haired boy for a while. For several afternoons in a row, Jimmy noticed that Benji would mysteriously disappear for a couple of hours at a time. The kid would always return late at night, his hair wet and smelling of girly shampoo, indicating that he had showered before returning to the dorm.

Jimmy deduced that there were only two logical explanations. Either Benji was starting a sexual relationship with a girl at the tender age of twelve, or he was hiding a gay relationship, one in which he, Benji, was the girl.

As he listened to the conversations that took place just outside of Benji's bedroom, Jimmy decided to go look for the younger boy after he finished eating, just to make sure that the kid was okay.

"Hey Dan! You see this new comic?"

"Yeah, Bo! Man, I can't stand those stuck up Royal Guards! Why they gotta pick on the mercenary like that for? Jordan should seriously break out and kill them all!"

----------------------

_Jordan had grown so used to the darkness that he was completely unprepared when lamplight flared into his cell, almost blinding him with its bright glare. He hissed and covered his eyes—after not seeing light for so long, the brightness __**burned.**_

"_Is this the right one?"_

_The voice was a man's; smooth, somewhat deep, and sounding a bit surprised. Squinting, Jordan peeked through the cracks in his fingers and tried to see who the speaker was, but he could only make out two dark silhouettes._

"_I believe this is him, Lord Garrett."_

_A woman's voice this time. Soft. Timid. Shy._

_The man's voice spoke again. "All right then. Get him out."_

"_Yes, milord."_

_Jordan grimaced as the woman unlocked the gate and entered the cell with the lamp, allowing light to completely fill the dark room. For a few seconds he could see nothing but whiteness, and he felt as if spears were being plunged mercilessly into his head. But after a while he got used to the glow enough so that he could barely squint, and not suffer a major migraine._

_The woman—who had a mop of curly brown hair—was dressed in pink robes, and she was quickly unlocking the shackles from his ankles and wrists. Jordan opened his eyes a bit more, and he saw that the woman was holding her breath, most likely trying not to gag at his body odor._

_Well, that wasn't exactly his fault! The guards never let him shower, not when he was shackled to the damn walls!_

_Once he had detangled himself from his chains, Jordan felt the woman haul him to his feet, pulling him out of the cell and in front of Lord Garrett. Jordan blinked, his eyes finally adapting to the light, and realized that he recognized this man._

_Lord Garrett was the son of one of the king's most trusted advisors, and one of the most powerful scholar-officials known in Bulioth. Guard small talk stated that there was nothing that Garrett didn't know about the kingdom, from the thieving bandit troops to the highest of noblemen. He knew everything about everyone, and it was most likely for this reason that Jordan recalled seeing the young lord at his trial. _

_Jordan vaguely remembered Garrett sitting behind the unattractive, over-intelligent civil servants. While the civil servants were all whiny, pathetic lapdogs of the king and had sat during the trial with great rapt and attention, Garrett had seemed disinterested, sitting with one leg crossed over the other, his arms folded over his chest. _

_He heard a thump from behind him. Jordan turned around and saw that another body had been thrown into the cell behind him; a lifeless, disfigured, rotting body. Jordan blinked, and turned to Garrett with astonished eyes. "Wha…?"  
_

"_He's your replacement," Garrett replied, wrinkling his nose at Jordan's stench. Still, the young lord managed to grin at the mercenary's surprised look. "Don't worry. That peasant was already dead when we found him." _

_Jordan was still shocked. "But what does that have to do with—"_

"_I'll dumb it down for you," Garrett replied, still grinning even though frustration was growing in his voice. "In the morning, the guards will tell the king that you've suffered a severe case of leprosy, which almost immediately killed you. The prison will then be destroyed to prevent any outbreak of diseases, and you, Jordan Hemmingway, will be a free man."_

----------------------

"Oh, wow!" Algie cooed, his piggy eyes squinting to make out the finer details of the comic. "That civil servant is really _ugly_!"

"The cowards!" Earnest agreed. "Hiding behind the king like some mere child! They should put their positions to good use! They have the potential to do so much more!"

As Jimmy headed towards the library, he only listened half-heartedly to the various squabbles going on around him, more intent on finding Benji should the kid have unintentionally gotten himself in trouble. The library seemed like a good bet to find the kid, as Benji tended to spend more time there than anywhere else. Jimmy had to suppress a grin—no matter how much he denied it, Benji was a flat out _Nerd_, come Hell or high water.

"Hey Hopkins! Think fast!"

_What?_

Jimmy whirled around and quickly caught the sailing newspaper in midair, seconds before it collided with his face. Turning his head to the side, he growled as Gary gave him a sullen look—clearly, the other boy had wanted him to eat newsprint for lunch.

Bastard.

"You have a reason for bothering me now?" Jimmy snapped, inwardly debating on whether or not he should slap Gary silly with the newspaper, or ignore him and continue his search for Benji. "Believe it or not, I'm actually enjoying our silent treatment towards each other, and I'd hate for it to end over something as trivial as _conversation_."

Gary snorted. "Stuff it, Hopkins. Just read the paper."

"And…why should I? You know I don't read this crap. I have better things to do than read articles that Constantinos typed out in moments of self-loathing fury."

"I'm not talking about the articles," Gary retorted, crossing his arms. "Some kid anonymously submitted a new comic called _The Mercenary_. An epic, or something like that. It's supposed to come out in several installments."

Jimmy cocked his head to the side. "Since when were you into comics? I didn't take you to be the type to read Captain Cosmo under the blankets at night."

"Everyone makes exceptions every once in a while," Gary replied, a strange smile stretching across his lips. "I've been making a lot of them, as of late. But really, honestly, enough about me. You should read the comic. I think you'll find it interesting."

"Pfft. Whatever." Jimmy turned his back to Gary and headed off towards the Library, tossing the paper in a nearby trashcan as he did so.

Just how stupid did Gary think he was, anyway? The bastard knew he didn't like comics.

----------------------

_Garret and the pink woman jerked Jordan through a strange stone passageway, crossing through the dark area to a door that led through the outer wall of prison. This outer wall, in turn, led to a flight of stone steps and a courtyard that lay between the prison and a large, shabby looking building._

_They crossed the courtyard, easily bypassing the intoxicated party that crowded around there. Jordan frowned as he spotted a tall, blond boy who was drunkenly swinging a tipsy girl in his arms. He had also seen this boy during the trial—the blond was called Darvin, and he was the son of respected noblemen Gregory Farrington. The girl in his arms was Penelope Galina, Darvin's cousin, who was a pretty if not spoiled girl._

_Jordan felt himself being pulled up a shorter flight of steps that led up to an open door in the wall of the shabby building. On the other side of the door were pearl white halls of a passageway, and Jordan's jaw dropped open when he saw the exuberant designs that had been hidden by the unattractive exterior._

_There were marble floors, as white as the first snow of winter. Paintings of lilies, tortoises, and doves filled the walls, which slowly changed to portraits of hunting dogs chasing down a roaring lion by the time they rounded a corner to another door. Jordan was so amazed with the sudden elegance that he unknowingly bumped into the pink woman, who flushed and took a daunting step away from him._

"_Leave us," Garrett said suddenly, startling Jordan. The scholar-official walked into the room, not saying another word, not even looking at Jordan or the woman who continuously accompanied them. _

_Jordan was completely unsure if this statement was for him or the pink woman. __**A glance in the right direction would help,**__ Jordan thought sarcastically. __**It's not like we can read minds here…**_

_His question was soon answered. Garrett, at seeing Jordan's hesitance, angrily reached over and yanked the mercenary into the room, while glaring at the now frightened pink woman._

"_Come back in half an hour," the young lord ordered. "I should be done with him by then."_

_**Done with him? **_

_Jordan's brow rose slightly at this statement, but by the time he thought to voice his opinion, the pink woman had bowed and left the room, closing the door behind her._

_And locking it._

_**Oh joy.**_

"_Relax, Hemmingway!" Garrett said, his voice suddenly taking on a calm, cheerful tone. He gestured to the small room around him, which was filled with bookcases, a large desk, and several comfortable chairs. He walked over to the desk, and poured himself a glass of wine from a nearby bottle. "Make yourself at home! Have a seat…"_

_Jordan picked the nicest chair and sat in it._

"…_just not that one." Garrett stiffened, his eyebrows snapping down into a single line across the top of his face. "Mercenary, get up." He was clearly annoyed, but Jordan didn't care. The mercenary simply leaned further into the feather pillows on the seat, and sighed._

_God…it felt almost as good as wearing clean clothes. He couldn't have gotten up if he tried. His knees were weak, his head hurt like hell, and his stomach was seriously considering tossing up the little food he had eaten. Also, there was the little matter of self-dignity to be recalled. Jordan rested his head back against the top of the chair and looked up his nose at Garrett, who was still standing by his desk._

_Garrett sighed, and rubbed his temples. "Never mind. Just stay there for now. That seat will have to be burned later."_

_So much for self dignity. Jordan's face reddened. Damn it, it wasn't his fault that he stank! Maybe Garrett should spend a few months in the king's prison. Would the young lord still smell like old books and scented soap then? "Let the prisoners take a bath." _

_The young lord blinked. "Excuse me?"_

"_I said let the prisoners take a bath. If you hate my body odor so much, then you should allow prisoners to wash themselves every so often to prevent such…discomfort."_

_Garrett's mouth fell slightly open, before he smirked. Was he impressed? Jordan didn't know. "I saw you at your trial," Garrett said, changing the subject purposefully. He looked Jordan over. "You're…thinner."_

_Thinner. Of all the stupid things to comment on. "Yeah," Jordan murmured, deciding that it was better to play along for now. "A couple months of eating crap will do that to you."_

"_You know, I thought you'd have escaped from the prison by now. You said at your trial that you'd break out and kill all those who…__**falsely**__ imprisoned you." Garrett grinned; he was enjoying himself._

_Two could play at that game. Jordan crossed his legs and settled deeper into the chair, which resulted in Garrett wincing. "Some things take time," Jordan said quietly._

"_How true. How long do you think it's going to take?"_

_**Another half an hour, if I'm lucky, **__Jordan thought._

"_I think it's going to take time," Garrett said. "I think it's going to take a lot of time. Maybe you'll even die before you get your revenge…and what joy would there be in that? Especially since the king's whore is celebrating with her new lover, while she left you to rot in the dungeons…"_

_Jordan stayed silent._

"_You boasted a lot during your trial. Idle boasts, were they not?"_

"_I can kill anyone, caged or free."_

"_So you keep telling me." Garrett leaned back against the desk. "It's a shame that your gifts don't come with intelligence, Jordan. But fortunately for you, it's not your intelligence I'm interested in. It's your mercenary skills. __**If**__ you're as good as you claim."_

"_I can kill anyone."_

"_I know."_

"_What makes you think I won't kill __**you**__?"_

_Garrett didn't even seem fazed by that statement, much to Jordan's surprise. "You won't harm me," Garrett said in a soft voice. "I'm your only ticket to freedom. This kingdom is large, Jordan, and your face is well known. Do you really think you'll be able to make it out of here alive, without some inside help?"_

_Jordon considered answering back, but realized with a sickened heart that the scholar-official was right. He kept quiet._

_Suddenly, a loud holler from the courtyard interrupted the moment. Jordan, still too weary to move, watched as Garrett swiftly moved towards the window. "Darvin Farrington, you idiot," Garrett hissed. "Had it not been for your connections, I would have killed you a long time ago."_

----------------------

"I can't believe it!"

"It's unbelievable!"

"I agree! And their fashion tastes are simply _atrocious_!"

Jimmy paused as he passed by a group of Preps outside Harrington House, all of who were immersed in several copies of the school newspaper. He couldn't help but raise a brow at this; normally, the Preps _never_ read the school paper. Something about it being "low-quality and common."

"I daresay!" Tad cried in outrage. "Don't you think that throwing young Jordan in jail was a little hasty of those noblemen? I mean, all the man did was sleep with one of the king's concubines. And _she_ came onto _him_!"

Aha. Jimmy shook his head. They were all reading that stupid new comic.

"And poor Jordan was drunk, too!" Pinky agreed, her normally haughty voice filled with pity and understanding.

"The nerve of that Darvin Farrington!" Darcy said suddenly, turning to another page of the comic. "He was too quick to judge, in my opinion. And his little sister Dervinnia is no better!"

"Don't forget about that Boyd Venicoe!" Gord cut in, his eyes widening at one of the pictures. "Oh dear god, I've never seen such a pompous ass in all my life! And those _clothes_! So out of fashion!"

Jimmy noticed that Adrian Aquaberry was standing a little bit apart from the other Preps, his dark eyes carefully scrutinizing the anonymous artwork. "Do you chaps see anything…_familiar_…about the noblemen?" he asked slowly. "Any similarities in mannerisms…or appearance?"

The other Preps stared at one another for a moment, before they all shrugged. "Not particularly," Chad replied. "And anyway, get real, Adrian! No one's _that_ stuck up in reality!"

"Have you looked in a mirror?" Jimmy said suddenly, unable to keep his opinion to himself at that last statement. He grinned when several of the Preps reddened, and hid their newspapers behind their backs. Only Adrian kept his paper out in the open, and the new arrival gave Jimmy an unpleasant scowl.

Not long after their less-than-favorable initial meeting, Adrian Aquaberry had decided that Jimmy was just exactly the Worst Person in the World to Ever Be Born, and made efforts to be hostile to Jimmy whenever he could. However, in Jimmy's opinion, the Prep's actions bordered on idiocy. Adrian would walk away from him whenever he could, Adrian would insult him whenever he could, and Adrian would loudly comment on the "high quality of Aquaberry Cruisers" whenever he could, especially when Jimmy was in the area, testing out a few new tricks on his red BMX.

Oh, how Jimmy wished he could _kill_ Adrian whenever he could. But then he would have to deal with the police, the lawyers, the angry parents…and that just took up too much time.

Besides, killing someone was a one-time-only deal.

"What do _you_ want, Hopkins?" Adrian said sullenly, his eyes narrowing. "Don't you have some new bike tricks to perform on that outdated BMX of yours?"

"I'm not a bike fiend," Jimmy replied, crossing his arms. "Unlike you, I don't find selling bikes for a living to be very interesting. That's actually something the Greasers would do, not a Prep…"

"HOW DARE YOU!" Adrian shrieked, pointing an outraged finger directly at Jimmy's face. "Comparing my beautiful Cruiser with a pathetic Greaser bike? Even though I didn't actually make the Cruiser myself, I paid the salaries of those who did, and an insult on the bike is an insult to _me_! I should sue you for this, you—you commoner!"

"Now now!" Gord hurriedly stepped towards Adrian, and quickly began to massage the younger boy's shoulders. "Don't let that mean old Hopkins get you all ruffled! You'll get early Crow's Feet around your lovely eyes! How about we go out for a nice walk towards the beach of Old Bullworth Vale? That'll cheer you up!"

Gord's fingers gently rubbed the base of Adrian's neck, and for a moment Jimmy could have sworn that the new Prep was going to purr. "Maybe," Adrian murmured, clearly enjoying the attention. "We could go after classes finish…and then, I can give you _my_ massage…" Adrian leaned into Gord's touch, which delighted the older boy but sickened almost every other Prep in the area, particularly Pinky, who stomped off in an angry huff.

Jimmy, realizing that he had been forgotten, merely shrugged and walked off towards the Auto shop. There was little chance that Benji would be there, as the kid had never even shown a lick of interest in bikes, but Jimmy was running out of places to look.

Unless Benji had left the school (which he rarely did), the kid was either in the Auto Shop or in the athletic department. Even though the female Jocks liked the wheat-haired boy, the males did _not_. To go to the athletic department would have been suicide for Benji.

As he left, he heard the loud sounds of Adrian and Gord making out, with the disgusted groans of the other Preps echoing loudly a second later.

Preps were idiots, sometimes.

----------------------

"_So basically, you want me to kill the leaders of the class groups."_

_Jordan glanced at Garrett, who was smirking at the scene that took place on the courtyard below. "You make it sound so criminal," Garrett said, his tone once again cheerful. "Believe me, I'm asking you to do this for the good of the kingdom. I know you're not a native, but surely you can tell that not all is right with the civilians."_

_Jordan huffed before he finally leaned forward in the chair, which was beginning to smell as foul as he did. "It's no concern of mine," he spat. "I'm a mercenary. I travel constantly. I don't take well to staying in one place for too long."_

"_And I can see that," Garrett agreed, taking in Jordan's current state. "However, Bulioth is a rather vast kingdom. I think it will be large enough to hold your fancy long enough for you to do your job."_

"_Whatever," Jordan muttered. "So, I know Farrington, from the nobles. Who else am I targeting?"_

"_Take a look for yourself. Another target is right outside, fighting with young Farrington as we speak."_

_Jordan groaned. To look out the window meant that he'd have to get up. "How about you just describe the next guy to me?"_

"_Jordon, move your ass over here before Jonathan Vercelli leaves!"_

"_Jonathan who?"_

_Garrett groaned, and gave Jordan an irritated glare. "He's the leader of the bounty hunters. Those infidels are one of the biggest reasons why Bulioth is in total disgrace. They won't listen to authority, especially not that of the nobles or scholar-officials."_

----------------------

Vance held the comic next to his face. "Come on, Larry! My hair's gotta be better than the bounty hunter's!"

Peanut glanced at the comic, before he shook his head. "Nope. The cartoon has better hair. You know, that Jonathan kinda looks like Johnny..."

"Oh, man! I don't believe this…"

"Is everyone reading that stupid comic?" Jimmy said loudly, becoming frustrated at the sight of everyone holding a newspaper in front of their faces. "Jesus, what's so great about it? Is there sex in it, or something?"

Peanut snorted. "Ha! I wish! But still…the pictures are pretty cool in their own right. Have you read it yet?"

"No! I don't like comics!"

"Whoa!" Vance held his hands (one still holding the newspaper) in front of Jimmy as a pacifying gesture. "Settle down, big guy! We don't like comics either, but this one kinda…I dunno…"

"It _speaks_ to us," Peanut answered, which earned him strange looks from both Jimmy and Vance. The clique leader blinked, before he blushed and began to stammer nervously. "I-I mean, that's what Ms. Philips said! She always told me that art should _speak_ to you, and make you feel stuff, and—and—and comic book pictures are artwork too, right? RIGHT?!"

"…"

"…"

"So," Jimmy finally said, choosing to ignore Peanut completely, "have any of you guys seen Benji?"

Peanut and Vance blinked. "Who?"

"Benji! You know, short Nerd-ish kid? Has wheat-colored hair, is responsible for the Jocks and Nerds almost killing each other early in the year…"

"Never heard of him," Vance replied, shrugging. The redheaded Greaser looked behind him, and yelled at another Greaser, "Hey, Ace! You seen any Nerd shrimps around here recently?"

The Greaser, Ace, who had been working in the bike work station, looked up. Upon first impression alone, anyone with half a brain cell could tell that this kid was a Greaser. With his slicked back brown hair, his black leather jacket, and his large, concealing black shades, it was impossible to think of the fifteen-year-old as anything _but_ a Greaser. "You know I don't talk to Nerds," Ace answered in his low, rough voice. "I've only been here for five minutes, looking at bike parts. Why the hell would I talk to any big-headed Nerd?"

Jimmy's eye twitched slightly at Ace's harsh tones. "You may want to stop talking," Jimmy growled. "This kid happens to be a friend of mine."

"Pfft. Well, excuse me." Ace snorted, before he turned his attention back to the bikes.

Jimmy had to resist the urge to throw a bike wrench at Ace's head. This kid was another arrival who had arrived on the same day as Adrian, though _when_ Ace had shown up was a mystery, as no student had seen him in the Boys' Dorm or in Crabblesnitch's office beforehand. Still, like Adrian, Jimmy had taken a disliking to Ace.

As a senior, Jimmy was finally allowed to move away from bikes and start on something more complex. Normally he would have automatically been upgraded to cars, but in the course of two years, Neil had received a bigger budget for his class, and had thus added a new option to the mechanical mix, motorcycles. However, Jimmy's newfound joy was smashed to bits by Ace, who would constantly nitpick about Jimmy's handiwork, claiming that everything Jimmy did was wrong, and that he, Ace, should be working on motorcycles instead.

Jimmy decided to leave the Auto Shop before the urge to mutilate Ace overpowered his sense of judgment.

----------------------

"_No, I won't have it," the servant woman said to Garrett. "I won't! Not even if he's your lordship's brother! Although I hope he's not."_

_Jordan felt his face grow hot as the blood rushed all the way to the tips of his ears. Garrett and the servant woman argued loudly while the pink woman hid her face in her hands and groaned. "Why do they have to fight now…?" Jordan heard the pink woman mumble, and surprisingly, Jordan silently agreed._

_Clearly, they didn't have to fight. They could have argued in hush-hush tones, or Garrett could simply have the woman executed for defying him…_

"_He smells so awful!" the servant woman protested. "He's not coming into my clean bathrooms and I won't have him sleeping in my clean beds! Not even if you paid me double my usual salary!"_

_Garrett growled, and pulled out a large pouch of what suspiciously looked like gold from underneath his tunic. He tossed the pouch at the woman, who caught it with some difficulty. "Here's your salary, paid a hundred fold. What say you now?"_

"…_oh." The servant woman blinked, before she glanced at Jordan uncertainly. "Well…I guess if that's what your lordship wants. But only if he washes immediately!"_

"_Fine. Woman!" Garrett turned to the pink woman, who squeaked and snapped to attention immediately. "Take the mercenary and show him to the pump near the stables. Have him wash, and make sure he does a good job."_

_The pink woman blushed violently, but she nodded nevertheless. Jordan, on the other hand, was less than thrilled as he found himself being pulled outside into the cold night air, towards the stables where he would be forced to wash. The pink woman seemed to be equally as displeased, and when the two finally reached the pump, she stood awkwardly in front of Jordan, as if unsure where to begin._

_Jordan sighed, and began to pull off his shoes. "I can do this myself," he grunted, tossing the smelly articles of clothing to the side. "I'm not a child, you know." _

"_I-I know," the pink woman mumbled, blushing again as Jordan pulled off his shirt, revealing hard, well-developed muscles. "Um…I guess I'll bring you some new clothes." She walked over to the dirty clothes and very gingerly picked them up, making a face as she tried not to breathe. "Ew…"_

"_You don't have to touch them, you know," Jordan remarked dryly, pulling his pants down. The pink woman made a squeak of embarrassment, and turned her reddened gaze away. _

"_I-I must!" she insisted. "Lord Garrett ordered me to burn the clothes, and to give you new ones."_

"_They don't stink that bad. Is the burning necessary?"_

"_Yes…"_

_Jordan shrugged, and began to pump the water out. "Whatever."_

"_I'll bring some new clothes for you soon, okay? Just don't…go anywhere."_

_**Like I have anywhere to go**__, Jordan thought bitterly. Still, he nodded, and as the pink woman left, he called out, "Hey! What's your name?"_

_The pink woman stopped, and turned a wary eye towards Jordan. "W-why do you wish to know?"_

"_Well," Jordan replied, grinning, "it wouldn't do well for me to call you 'The Pink Lady' all the time, now would it?"_

_At this, the woman unexpectedly giggled, which in turn made Jordan want to laugh as well, despite the fact that he was standing naked in the middle of a stable. The woman at last smiled at him, and said in a soft voice, "My name is Petunia Korterroy."_

----------------------

"YOU MADE ME A GIRL!"

"Please be quiet, Peter. I'm trying to have a conversation with Meela on the cell phone you so generously lent me. Hmm? Oh, not you, Meela. I was talking to Pe—no, I already told you. Don't come to the school again."

Jimmy raised a curious brow as he made his way back towards the Boys' Dorm, where he found Benji and Petey sitting on Benji's bed. Benji, who had now finished talking on the phone with Meela, once again looked as if he had just come out of the shower, but he also seemed overly calm, whereas Petey looked absolutely livid over…something.

It was then that Jimmy noticed the newspaper in Petey's hands.

_Goddamn it!_

"It's not right, Benji!" Petey cried, almost in tears as he grabbed Benji by the shoulders and franticly shook him. "You gave everyone else their proper genders! Why switch _mine_?!"

"Well," the wheat-haired child replied as-a-matter-of-factly, "while everyone else's personalities seemed to match their gender, yours seemed to better fit a girl's. Besides, I have plans to make Petunia fall in love with Jordan later on, and if I made Petunia a boy, it would be totally…weird. While that might go well with Sophy, it'll hurt the sales of the newspaper."

"So you're the little bastard!" Jimmy cried, startling both Benji and Petey as he made his way towards them. He stopped in front of the wheat-haired boy, who gave Jimmy a deadpanned look.

"I'm assuming you've read the comic?" Benji said flatly, as if he expected something lethal to happen.

"No. I haven't. But what's this about making Petey into a girl?"

"It's nothing!" Petey cried, shoving the newspaper into his pants. "Don't read the comic, Jimmy. It's all medieval and old-fashioned, and it totally reminds me of Grottos and Gremlins—"

"Here you go," Benji interrupted, producing a fresh newspaper from seemingly out of nowhere. Catching Petey's astonished stare, Benji grinned. "I have lots of spare copies. Trevor and Algie gave them to me for free, so I can spread the good fortune around. Apparently, this is the best sales rate the newspaper club's ever had."

"I don't like comics," Jimmy grumbled, tossing the paper to the side. "This has to be the third time I've said that today."

"You'll like it, Jim," Benji said slyly. "You should, since most of the characters are based off of the students in the school."

That got Jimmy's attention. "Oh really?"

"Yeah. And I've proven a theory of mine in the process."

"Which is?"

"That people have hindsight when it comes to recognizing their own faults," Petey answered gloomily, his newspaper still stuffed in his pants.

"Read it, Jim. You'll like it. And as you read, we can all enjoy a little snack!" Benji reached under his bed and pulled out his sack of candy, grinning as he reached inside. Suddenly, his grin vanished, and the boy peered into the bag with shock. "HEY! What the hell happened to all my Neptune Bars?"

----------------------

**Seriously, if you can't find the connection between Jordan and Jimmy, then I don't know what to say to you.**

**And yes, Jordan's last name of Hemmingway is a nod to Ernest Hemmingway, one of my favorite authors.**

**I seriously think the comic idea in itself would make a terrific story. If you guys want, I can start a separate fic that focuses just on the comic alone, and in that version, I'll keep the original names (Jordan will be renamed Jimmy, Garrett will be renamed Gary, and Petunia…will be changed back to a boy called Petey.**

**Only if you guys want, of course. **


	8. Observation 8: Pencils

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: I will not be able to update again until next Sunday, due to several reports that I have to write and hand in by Thursday. So until then…I'm sorry.

**Observation Eight: Pencils**

Jimmy had only gone into the 57¢ Store because he needed new pencils, as all of his old ones were currently stuck fast to his bedroom ceiling with no hope if ever becoming dislodged.

How they got there wasn't exactly a mystery, though the sight of a hundred pencils being stuck in the ceiling was disturbing enough to make Petey shriek upon every entry. Still, the answer to the not-so-mysterious-mystery was plain and simple; whenever Jimmy was bored beyond belief, he would take a pencil, sharpen it, and aim at a blank spot in the plaster above him.

"It keeps me occupied on slow days," Jimmy explained to a nonplussed Petey. "Besides, it's artistic. Just a few more good shots, and I'll have a replica of the Mona Lisa on the ceiling."

This statement did nothing in terms of reassurance for Petey, who bawled about the possibilities of a pencil falling out and stabbing Jimmy square in the eye during the night. However, this was a threat Jimmy thoroughly ignored, and the pencil-ceiling shooting continued…until he realized late that afternoon that he had run out of ammo.

Well, that wouldn't do. He needed to shoot pencils at the ceiling, and to do that, he needed pencils! All Mona Lisa needed was a mouth, and his masterpiece would be complete!

Plus, he had a math test tomorrow, and he needed to be prepared. If he didn't have a pencil, the math teacher would most likely ass-rape him as punishment.

When he arrived at New Coventry's 57¢ Store, he walked in with a smile, half expecting to find Jerry, or Duncan, or one of the other Townies at the register. But when his eyes fell on a smiling Meela Shortman, his greeting promptly died in his throat, and was replaced with a very confused, "What the…?"

"Helloa, Jimmy!" Meela greeted, giving him a little wave. "I never expected to see you here! What can I do for you?"

Jimmy blinked, forgetting what he came for. "What are you doing here?" he asked instead, his eyes quickly taking in the plain and shabby-looking blue shirt that all the store workers had to wear. It looked rather flimsy on Meela, whose tall, painfully thin frame seemed to be dwarfed by the oversized clothing. "I didn't know you worked…here."

Meela cocked her head to the side, her blue eyes peering into Jimmy's. "Well," she said slowly, "we've only met each other once, darling, and I don't recall telling you anything about my workplace. It's common sense that you wouldn't know."

_Did she just call me __**darling**?_

"Oh. Right. But still!" Jimmy looked away from her gaze. "I didn't think you'd work _here_. Not in this dump…"

"There a problem with working here?" Omar snapped as he passed by Jimmy. The Townie was carrying a large pile of delicate-looking china plates towards the back storage room, and his arms strained to keep the pile from falling.

"Do you need any help?" Meela called after him, her face now filled with worry. However, Omar merely shrugged off her concern with a loud laugh.

"Don't worry about it, Mrs. Shortman!" the Townie said with an air of bravado. "This ain't nothing! I bench press a hundred and ten pounds daily, only ninety-pounds behind Edgar!"

"Oh!" Meela seemed much more relieved. "Well, tell Edgar I said hello, would you?"

"Sure thing. He'd like that—WHOA!" Omar slipped on a banana peel that a little boy had dropped at that precise moment, and both Jimmy and Meela winced when a second later, they both heard a loud _CRASH_!

"…"

"…"

"I-I'm…okay!" Omar moaned from underneath the mound of cracked china. "D-don't cha worry about me!"

--

Despite his protests, Meela immediately took her coffee break and pulled him to the break room so that they could talk.

"I'm sorry for hijacking you like this," she said as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "But I really can't talk out there, at the register. My employer told me that if he caught me socializing while I was at the register again, he'd lower my salary." Meela then let out a light laugh, a laugh that didn't quite seem to reach her eyes. "It's a rather cruel world, isn't it? Something as simple as a mere conversation could end up with severe consequences…Coffee?"

She held the pot at him, which he declined.

"Why don't you just quit?" Jimmy replied. "Your boss sounds like a real jerk."

Meela laughed again as she sat next to him on the break room sofa, taking his hand in her soft one while she gently squeezed his fingers. "Oh, please, Saint Jimmy. You make it sound as if finding a job is _easy_. It's actually very difficult to find a job, especially in a small area such as Bullworth. And anyway, it's not too bad in this store." Meela gestured to her oversized, horrid blue shirt, and grinned. "Besides…we all get a free outfit! It's nice, don't you think?"

Jimmy didn't reply. His eyes traveled over her shirt, which suddenly looked more worn out than before.

"How's Benji?" Meela asked, sipping at her hot coffee with caution. "Is he doing all right? I get e-mails from him every day, but it's just not the same as seeing him face to face. That's why I decided to move here after Benji got accepted to that school..."

"He e-mails you?"

"Uh-huh." Meela sipped at her coffee a little more, before she gave him a teasing look. "He mentions you a lot. In almost every letter I've gotten, there's at least one passage dedicated solely to you, darling."

"Oh really?" Jimmy suddenly felt angry, betrayed even. He never knew that Benji was writing about him on a daily basis. By this point, the younger boy already knew a lot about him—who knew what Benji wrote to Meela? Who knew what embarrassing things the woman before him knew?

Meela seemed to catch his inner frustrations, for she hurriedly said, "He didn't write anything bad, you know. Many of the things he wrote were in a good light. He…looks up to you."

_Oh really?_ Now that was interesting. Not likely, but interesting nonetheless. Jimmy gave Meela a skeptical look. "Are you just buttering me up? Telling me nice things so that Benji won't get in trouble?"

"What? NO!" Meela seemed offended. "He really does like you, Jimmy!"

"Don't lie. Why would he look up to me?"

"He obviously thinks there's something special about you, otherwise he wouldn't care…"

"Pfft. Yeah, right. He's just clingy because I protected him from all the bullies in the school."

"Bullies?" A startled look overcame Meela's blue eyes, and Jimmy suddenly had the urge to bite his tongue off. "What bullies are you talking about? Benji never told me about any bullying!"

Oh crap.

_Nice going, Hopkins, _his brain scolded. _Anything else you want to tell her? How about when Benji got beaten up by the Jocks? That'll certainly surprise her, I bet!_

"He's fine!" Jimmy said reassuringly, hoping that he wasn't lying _too_ badly. "I've been keeping the jerks away from him. I sort of have a good connection with everyone in the school, so they know not to mess with Ben. They all know now that if they mess with him—" Jimmy punched a fist into his hand "—they mess with me."

This didn't seem to comfort Meela very much. "Maybe I should talk with the Headmaster," she said nervously. "I should let Dr. Crabblesnitch know what's going on. I don't want things to escalate again for Benji…"

Jimmy grabbed Meela by the arm and turned her so that they were facing each other, brown eyes staring hard into blue. "Don't worry about him," Jimmy stated, his voice serious and calm. "I'm taking care of him. Just trust me, and trust Ben, okay?"

The older woman blinked, twice. Then, she looked away. "Okay…" she whispered softly. She bit her lip for a moment, before she weakly smiled. "I'll trust you, Saint Jimmy. Benji told me that he trusts you, so I will too."

"Good." Jimmy let go of her arm, noting that she was shaking slightly. He frowned. "Hey…you okay?"

"Hmm?"

"You're shaking." He covered her hands with one of his own. Sure enough, he could feel the tremors, and a second later, she did too.

"I-it's nothing," Meela said quickly, flushing as she pulled her hand away. "I-I'm just a little tired. I've been working since eight…"

Jimmy frowned. "You don't look too good. Maybe you should go home early, or something."

At this, the older woman shook her head. "I can't," she exclaimed softly. "I have to get to the Laser Lounge at five o'clock to start my shift…"

"Another job?" Jimmy stared at Meela in astonishment. "Just how many damn jobs do you have?"

"I…I…"

"Look," Jimmy said bluntly, "I'm not saying you're ugly or anything, but you're way too skinny as it is. You don't look strong enough to be working so hard, and I'm starting to worry that you might overdo it. That's not what Ben needs."

And then Jimmy stopped.

At this point, he noticed that Meela's face had gone all tight and peculiar-looking. Her whole body had gone rigid, her stiff shoulders hunched up high, and her soft lips were pressed so tightly that all Jimmy could see was a thin line for her mouth. She sat there, gripping her mug of tea in both hands and staring down into it as though searching for a way to answer these statements, these statements that had gone far from the course she originally wanted to take.

"I only have two," Meela said in a soft, strange voice. "I'm thirty-four-years-old, but I only have two jobs, darling. I _need_ them. All that work is not for nothing."

This made absolutely no sense to Jimmy. "But Benji already has a scholarship. Why…"

"He needs spending money, doesn't he?" Meela explained, still speaking in that soft, strange voice. "And there are the other members of the family to think about."

Jimmy raised a curious brow. "Ben has brothers and sisters? He didn't tell me."

"He didn't tell you because he doesn't have any." The woman suddenly seemed very tired, and she slowly stood up, her eyes not meeting Jimmy's. "I have to get back to work. Sorry for cutting the conversation short…"

"It's all right," Jimmy replied quietly.

He had done something wrong. He had fucked something up. Somehow, he had overstepped a boundary, a boundary that Meela and Benji had set up for themselves. He hoped that Benji wouldn't find out. God only knew what sort of hell the kid would give him for upsetting his mother.

"He thinks you're admirable," Meela said suddenly, just as she was about to open the door. "Benji thinks you're admirable for doing what you _want_ to do, saying what you _want _to say, without any regards for the consequences. Not many people have the courage to do that."

With that, the young mother stepped out of the break room, leaving Jimmy by himself.

--

Jimmy arrived at the school gates hours later, having taken a long walk through town. He passed by Zoe and Ace without a second thought, even though the young Greaser was shamelessly hitting on the older girl despite her persistent refusal to acknowledge his presence.

As he headed quietly towards the Boys' Dorm, he noticed that many of the male Jocks seemed distraught about something. Most likely it was due to the fact that Jimmy refused to let them head to Sacher City to vandalize the Peace Onmite school buildings.

He ignored them.

He headed towards his room, stopping briefly at Benji's to see if the boy was in there. His brow rose when he saw Karen Johnson and Gloria Jackson sitting on the bed with the wheat-haired boy, the three of them talking in hushed tones as Karen and Gloria tried to sit as far away from each other as possible.

_Well, well. Go Benji._

When he reached his room, he threw himself on his bed and looked at the ceiling, where the almost finished Mona Lisa stared back down at him with a blank, mute look.

Instinctively, he reached towards his drawer, hoping to reach a pencil.

Damn.

He had forgotten to buy the pencils.

--

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	9. Observation 9: We're Okay

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: Jimmy and Benji have another one-on-one discussion. It's intellectual, if you look hard enough.

**Observation Nine: "We're Okay."**

"Ben, it was an accident."

"Sure it was, Jim. Go away."

"Oh, come on! How was I supposed to know that your mom worked there? And besides, she didn't seem _that_ upset when I left. If she was embarrassed, she should have said something."

"Uh-huh. Don't hit the door on your way out."

"Damn it! Would you at least stop being mad at me? I said I was sorry!"

"Jim, I don't want to talk to you right now, okay? Please leave." With that, Benji turned his back to Jimmy, refusing to even look the older boy in the eye as he returned his attention to the two paper orbs on his desk.

Jimmy groaned in frustration, before he plopped down on Benji's bed in defeat. For a while, there was an uncomfortable silence. "What's it gonna take?" Jimmy finally asked out loud. He turned his head towards Benji, who was still hunched over his desk. "Seriously, what's it gonna take for you to see that I didn't mean to embarrass your mom?"

The wheat-haired child's answer was short and to the point. "Nothing."

"…then why the hell are you so _mad_ at me?!"

Benji looked up from his work and glared at the older boy, his brown eyes narrowing so icily that Jimmy actually found himself backing away. "Let's list the reasons why I could be pissed at you, Jim," Benji stated in a too-calm voice. "Number one—" he stuck out a finger "—you've eaten all of my Neptune Bars, and have devoured at least half of my Chocó Cherry Clusters."

"But they're delicious and oh-so chocolaty," Jimmy protested. "Besides, you have a billion lollipops under your bed…what's a few missing candy bars, eh?"

"Number two!" Benji continued, his voice becoming progressively angrier. "You continuously call me a Nerd, despite my loud and obvious pleas for you to stop. I am, for the eighty-ninth time, NOT a Nerd!"

Jimmy raised a brow at that statement. "Do you really want me to respond to that one, Ben?"

"_Number three_!" Benji yelled, a third finger joining the other two. He paused for a minute, his three fingers dangling in front of Jimmy's face. "Um...number three…"

"_Yes_?" Jimmy asked tauntingly. "What is it? Or don't you have one?"

"Shut up! I _have_ a third reason. It's just that…that…" Benji bit his lip, as if he was silently debating with himself. Finally, he lowered his three fingers and looked away. "Forget it. It's personal."

"That was _really_ helpful, Ben," Jimmy replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You're an amazing debater. The _best_, really."

"I said shut up." Benji's eyes were locked onto the smiling photograph of himself and his mother. All of a sudden, the wheat-haired boy seemed much wearier than he had been a second ago, and this startled Jimmy more than he wanted to admit. "I've had a hard week," Benji mumbled. "Just leave me alone."

Jimmy stared at Benji's tired eyes. "No."

"Jim, if you want to talk, then go talk to Peter."

"I sent him out for something."

"Then talk to Gary."

"I'm not in the mood to kick his ass."

"Talk to anyone _other_ than me."

"No."

Benji sighed, and rested his head against the cool surface of his desk. "I hate you," he whispered softly.

Jimmy answered in a whisper as well. "No, you don't."

For a moment, there was silence. Jimmy watched quietly as the small boy finally stood up from his desk and walked over to the bed, placing the two small paper orbs carefully into Jimmy's hand. The older gave his younger a questioning glance. "What's this?"

"Pepper Bombs. Thad and I made it." Benji sat next to Jimmy is a peculiar way; not next to him as usual, but directly behind him, so that their backs were barely touching. Jimmy didn't particularly like this seating arrangement, as he now had to crane his neck in order to see the younger boy.

"What do these things do?" Jimmy asked, feeling as if he was talking to himself. "More importantly, what am I supposed to do with them?"

"They're like stink bombs, but they're only made for one target at a time. You throw it at someone's face, and the victim is guaranteed to be sneezing and coughing and gasping for the next fifteen minutes." Jimmy felt Benji's warm back press against his. "I'd recommend using the Pepper Bombs for that extra special person you hate. It's gonna take a while for Thad and me to make more, so use it only when you have to."

"And you're giving the last samples to _me_?" Jimmy grinned, knowing full well that Benji couldn't see the pleasure on his face. "Why, I'm _touched_, Ben."

"Don't be," Benji grumbled. "I don't like the Pepper Bombs. One of them accidentally exploded on Constantinos's face when he was examining them, and since then he's been pissed off at me more than usual."

"Ha! Brakus is _always_ pissed about something."

"Towards me, he seemed _super_ pissed. I dunno…"

Jimmy leaned his back against Benji's, turning his head to the side until he could _just_ glimpse the younger boy's brown eyes. "Brakus is a nobody, Ben. Just forget him, okay?"

"Whatever, Jim. Whatever."

He felt Benji chuckle, something that didn't happen too often for the small boy. With the tension slowly breaking down, Jimmy felt a comfortable atmosphere settle down between the two of them. "Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm? Go ahead."

"Are the Pepper Bombs the reason why you've been coming late to the dorm almost every night?"

And like that, the comfort broke. Jimmy felt Benji's body tense against his own, before the small boy forcefully relaxed his limbs. "I didn't think you noticed," Benji said quietly. "You don't miss a beat, do you, Jim?"

"In the case of friends, I tend to notice when something's off," Jimmy explained, though he felt uneasy with Benji's answer. "But seriously…why are you coming in so late every night? And why do you always come in looking like you just showered?"

"Why are you asking all of these questions?" Benji replied, his voice becoming oddly tight. "I don't dig into _your_ personal life, do I?"

Jimmy blinked, and turned his body around so that he was face-to-face with Benji. "Ben, I'm just asking—"

"Don't." Benji lowered his gaze, his gaze suddenly unfathomable. "Just _don't_, okay Jim? You'll find out when everything's ready, but until then…just don't."

Well. That didn't sound comforting at all. "Ben, if someone's bothering you—"

"No one's bothering me!" Benji cried, scrambling from the bed in a fit of frustration. "Damn it, _you're_ bothering me with all these questions!"

"Jesus, Ben! I was just asking!"

"Well, _don't_!" Benji paced back and forth across the room, before he ran an anxious hand through his hair. "Damn it, just drop it, okay? You—you'll find out soon. I promise," he quickly added, upon seeing Jimmy's look of disbelief. "Just—just trust me, okay? I'm fine."

"Don't lie," Jimmy snapped. He didn't think that Benji was okay. In fact, he was of the opinion that Benji was probably going to run his mouth off to the wrong person and get killed one day. Of course, Benji had the same opinion of Jimmy himself, so there was no arguing with the kid.

"I'm not lying," Benji muttered as he leaned against the wall. "I'm fine."

"Sure you are."

The wheat-haired boy frowned, staring at Jimmy with uncertain eyes. Then, the small child sighed, before he took a seat next to Jimmy. "I heard," Benji said quietly, "that you've been talking a lot to Adrian Aquaberry and that Greaser, Ace."

Jimmy snorted; Adrian and Ace were two individuals he wished he could live without. "If by _talk_, you mean _fight_, then yeah. I've been _talking_ to them a lot."

"Have you—" Benji swallowed nervously "—ever talked to them about me?"

"Huh?" Jimmy cocked his head at the question. "About you? Well, I might have mentioned you to Ace once…"

"WHAT?!" Benji's eyes widened to impossible lengths. "Why did you do that?!"

"I didn't give them your name!" Jimmy yelped, surprised at the small boy's sudden change in mood. "Technically, they don't even know you exist…"

At this, Benji immediately calmed down. "Oh. Good. Let's keep it that way, okay? When around Adrian and Ace, don't mention my name. I've told Darcy to keep quiet too, though god knows how long the girl can keep her mouth shut…"

"Why the secretive attitude, Ben? Do you know Adrian and Ace?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah." Benji's face turned dark. "I know _them_ very well." He turned to Jimmy, with the same dark stare on his face. "Don't tell them my name. Don't tell them I'm here."

Jimmy frowned. "Why? What did they do to you?"

"Nothing. Just don't tell them I'm here. And don't give me that look!" Benji cried, when Jimmy gave him a deadpanned stare. "Again, this is personal, okay? Just don't. I can handle it."

"Pfft! Like you handled the Jocks during your first week here?"

"I thought we'd agreed to never discuss that again? Don't turn into a bastard on me, Jim."

Despite himself, Jimmy felt the urge to smile. "Whatever. But…you know that you can come to me for help, right?"

Benji nodded. "Yeah. I know…"

Suddenly, Petey poked his head into the room, holding a ridiculously large bowl of what appeared to be red fruit punch. "Hey Benji!" he greeted the younger boy cheerfully, before he turned his gaze towards Jimmy. "Hey, Jimmy? Um, the fridge in Edna's kitchen isn't working, so I'm going to try to use the one in the teacher's lounge, okay? The cherry Jell-O is going to take another ten minutes to harden." With that, Petey left the room, struggling slightly to keep the red liquid from spilling.

Benji's eyes widened, and he turned to Jimmy with a look of elation. "You got Petey to make me Jell-O?" he gasped. "That's…that's…" Then, his face hardened. "What do you want?"

"Hmm?" Jimmy gave Benji his most innocent look. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You know Jell-O is my biggest weakness! Especially _cherry_ Jell-O! What do you want?"

"Honestly?" Jimmy slung an arm over Benji's shoulder, and gave the younger boy a half-smile. "I want you to _not_ be mad at me anymore."

"Oh. Is that all?" Benji shrugged, his thin shoulders quickly moving up and down under the weight of Jimmy's arm. "I thought the whole conversation we just had was a clue that we're on speaking terms again."

"I know. But the Jell-O was a backup."

"You evil bastard."

Jimmy grinned. "Like I've never heard that before. Oh, one more thing."

"I knew it."

"We're okay, right?"

The wheat-haired boy blinked. "What?"

"We're _okay_, right?" Jimmy repeated, stronger this time.

There was a moment of silence. Benji stared at him, his eyes wide and bright as he tried to grasp the meaning behind Jimmy's seemingly simple words. Then, he smiled.

"Yeah. We're okay."

------------------

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	10. Observation 10 'Benji': Secrets

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: This is a Benji chapter. Figured we were long overdue for one of these. Thad has a lisp, which means he has a problem speaking the letter "s." So, I replaced all "s" sounds with a "th" sound. Okay?

I…am actually uncertain about this drabble. Please review this one, so that I don't have to rip my hair out with worry.

**Observation Ten (Benji): Secrets **

_Time Frame: Present_

I felt Gary's rough hands on my bare shoulders, his fingers gently digging into the soft, white skin. His thumbs made slow circles against the base of my neck, and I had to physically force myself to suppress a shiver. From behind me, I heard Gary chuckle softly into my ear.

_Don't flinch_, I mentally told myself. _For the love of god, don't let him see you sweat. This is your night, not his!_

"Well, well," I heard him murmur. "This is the first swim meet for the Boys' Swim Team. How do you feel, Shortman?"

"Ridiculous," I replied, my voice shaking despite my best efforts to sound calm. I looked up at him, knowing full well that I couldn't keep the fear off my face. "How did you know?" I asked finally asked. "Only a few people knew, and they promised…"

Gary laughed again, and ruffled my hair a bit too enthusiastically. "The thing about promises," he said softly, "is that they're made to be _broken_. You can't trust anyone other than yourself, Shortman. It's the first rule of survival. Better learn it while you're still young."

He then gave me a leer, and I immediately wished that I had worn more than a mere pair of swimming trunks. Ever since that incident I had with him on Halloween, I didn't want to be anywhere _near_ Gary, much less alone with him.

Yet here we were. Together. Alone. And me, half naked.

God, I was just begging to be raped, wasn't I? Where the hell was Coach Beckham?

I fidgeted. Gary's hands were becoming too much, too hot against my chilled skin. I twisted out of his grasp, and gave him a glare. "Who squealed?" I snapped. "I know it wasn't Karen or Gloria. Who told you?"

"I can't say, Shortman. My confident is my confident only as long as his identity remains _confidential_. Duh." He gave me a mocking smile, and crossed his arms. "I find it interesting that you haven't told Hopkins or Petey. What's wrong, Benny boy? Afraid that Jimmy's gonna hurt you for going against his orders to stay away from the Jocks?"

"Shut your mouth!" I snapped, attempting and failing to shove him away from me. "Jim wouldn't hurt me! He'd never hurt me, not for something like this!"

"What's going on here?" Right on cue, Coach Daniel Beckham entered the boys' locker room and gave me and Gary a concerned stare. "Ben, you okay? I heard yelling all the way from the pool."

God, I wanted to scream. I wanted to scream right then and there, professing to the whole damn world on how much I hated Gary Smith. I wanted to tell Coach Beckham all about the feelings of insanity I felt whenever I was with the unstable senior. I wanted, more than anything, to confess that I wanted Gary out of my way, out of my _life_, preferably as soon as possible.

That was what I wanted.

What I did instead was shake my head. "Never mind, coach," I mumbled. "I'm okay."

"Oh. That's good." Coach Beckham smiled at me, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gary smirk.

_Sick son-of-a-bitch._

"Maybe I made a mistake," I found myself saying. I don't know why I was saying this now. Maybe it's because I suddenly felt as if I was going to throw up everything I've eaten since this morning. "Maybe I'm not ready for this. Maybe I should pull out now…" I stopped when I saw a look of worry and horror on Coach Beckham's face.

"Ben!" he cried, grabbing me and shaking me slightly. "For god's sake, we've been practicing in secret for weeks! I'm already under scrutiny for adding your name to the boys' roster so late. If you back out now…!"

He faltered off, and I saw that he was nearly in tears.

"Yeah," Gary agreed, though his voice was more teasing than anything else. "Wouldn't want to let the whole team down, would you? That would be social suicide, Benny boy, with both the Jocks and…you know who."

Of course I knew. He was talking about Jimmy. He was talking about Darcy. He was talking about Gloria, about Karen, about Thad, Dan, Bo…everyone who'd been helping me since I came to this godforsaken school. Long term peace hinged on the success of my plan, and if I backed out now, the Jocks would blow their tops and declare an all out war against the Nerds.

If I succeeded, however…

I growled and clenched my fists angrily at his words. However…he was right. Even though I'd rather be anywhere else but _here_, sitting half naked in this smelly old locker room, I knew I had to go out and swim. I promised Coach Beckham that I would. I promised too many people that I would. Besides, if I don't, the Jocks are going to murder me before the night's done.

This was something I had to do. These were secrets I _had_ to keep.

I hope Jimmy will understand later on.

-----------

_Time Frame: Past_

_Subject: Adrian Aquaberry, Ace and James "Jimmy" Hopkins, Part One_

Jimmy's been having some problems with Adrian Aquaberry. Actually, he's been having problems with Adrian for _weeks_, but their dislike for one another has now reached a personal level. Apparently, the new Preppie's been going around, shamelessly hitting on several of the boys and girls in school…and one of those girls just happened to be Jimmy's current girlfriend, Angie Ng.

It was _sad_, really. Jimmy even told me that he saw Angie smiling flirtatiously in return, before Adrian gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Of course, the fists flew after _that_.

"It's not right, Ben!" he snarled, after a disheveled prefect forcefully dragged him back to the dorm after breaking up the fight that had ensued. "She had no right to—to smile back at him! She's _my_ girlfriend, goddamn it! She shouldn't have been swayed so easily by his fake-ass charms!"

"But she technically never cheated on you," I pointed out oh-so-helpfully. "_Adrian_ kissed _her_, not the other way around. And anyway, you were cheating on Angie in the first place. Weren't you seeing Christy Martin behind her back?"

He blinked, before he gave me this really _annoyed _glare. "That's a completely different story."

"Sure it is, Jim. Sure it is."

Jimmy, you are one stupid bastard sometimes. I still love you for that, though.

But you know...I can't believe that people don't _see _it. About Adrian, I mean. Seriously, how much more obvious can the idiot get? I knew his little secret from the second I laid eyes on him and_ Ace_, and I'll be damned if he thinks he can fuck me over again.

However, his little charade carries on, and the fools of Bullworth are still none the wiser.

I'm not too worried. I still have the element of surprise on my side. Since I don't take Auto Shop until I'm fourteen, and since Adrian doesn't normally talk to the Nerds, we'll virtually never have to see each other. And thank GOD Darcy sleeps in the Girls' Dorm. I'll never have to go near Harrington House again, unless absolutely necessary!

I have to be careful, though. I can't allow even the stupidest mistakes, otherwise Adrian will _know_. I remember this one particular mishap that occurred while I was walking back to the Boys' Dorm. It was right after my nightly activities, and I was so tired and wet that I almost ran _headfirst_ into Adrian himself.

Stupid, stupid, STUPID! How could I have been so—so—AGH!

Quickly, before he saw my face, I ran the other way and crouched behind a set of stairs. He passed by me, not noticing me in the slightest as he was busy trying to flirt with a very nonplussed Zoe. He tried giving her a flower—a daisy, I think—but she just shoved it back in his face, which resulted in him sneezing three times due to the pollen.

Idiot. He was allergic to daisies—everyone in the Aquaberry family was. He rubbed his nose with his right index finger vigorously to get the pollen out, but had little success.

He thankfully didn't see me. Still, I didn't move from my hiding spot until it was almost time for curfew.

-----------

_Time Frame: Past_

_Subject: Gloria Jackson and Thad Carlson_

Two of the few people who knew of my nightly activities were Gloria and Thad.

Needless to say, the _nature_ of my activities displeased them greatly. On Thad's standpoint, he was worried about the Jocks jumping me whenever Coach Beckham wasn't around. Secretly practicing for the Boys' Swim Team was one thing, but until Coach Beckham placed my name on the roster, I wasn't going to be an official Jock.

And that meant I was open prey.

"They'll pound you the first opper-th-unity they get!" Thad lisped, his eyes wide with concern as the three of us sat on the stone steps in front of the library. "And even if you do get on the ro-th-her—"

"_Roster_," I corrected.

"Thath's what I th-aid!" Thad lisped again. "Even if you do get on the ro-th-er, the Jocks may not welcome you into their clique! It's hopele-th, Benji! Hopele-th!"

Convincing Thad to support me was a hopeless struggle. Or should I say "hopele-th struggle" instead?

On Gloria's standpoint, she was worried about what might happen to me in the future, and she had a right to be. The first team the Bullworth boys were going up against was Peace Onmite.

Oh _joy_.

"There's a high chance that they'll target you after the match, Benjamin," she warned me. "Even if we take them by surprise _now_, they'll be ready next time. And from what I researched, they've been a tough competitor to ever school they've been up against so far. All of the girls' teams that competed against them either had horrible accidents in the middle of the meets, or had to forfeit."

I stared at Gloria is shock. "For the love of…didn't the referees say anything?"

"No. None of them did. Well, there was _one_, but he mysteriously got into a car accident the day after the meet."

I'd be lying if I said that didn't scare the shit out of me. Still, I managed to give her an uneasy half-smile. "Don't worry Gloria. If you and the others set up security like we planned, then there's little Peace Onmite can do. Place cameras everywhere, guard the perimeters, that sort of thing…"

"You forget," Gloria replied dryly, "that no Nerd, other than you, has ever set foot into the athletics department without getting sent to the infirmary. Why, Cornelius tried to change for his Physical Education class just last week, and he ended up having his head dunked into a toilet!"

"Oh yeah…" Crap. I had forgotten about that. "So…I guess that means that you won't be coming to see me?"

"No." Gloria stared at me straight in the eye, before she very softly said, "I wish you wouldn't go, either."

Now that was unexpected. "Why not?"

"Do you really believe," Thad said quietly, "thath the Jocks care about you joining the team? Thath they appreciate what you're doing for them?"

"Um..." I blinked uncertainly. "I don't really know."

"Do you really think," Gloria cut in, "that the Jocks will care about how we're setting up high maintenance security just so that they'll be safe from whatever Peace Onmite is planning?"

"Um…"

"No!" Gloria glared at me so icily that I actually found myself flinching under her stare. "They don't care about _us_, Benjamin! They don't care whether we live or die in this academy, and they certainly won't care about _you_ after the meet!"

"They'll probably beat you up, if anything," Thad added.

Oh, dear god. Their words were more cutting and fierce than what I was prepared for. "Don't you two have brothers in the Jock clique?" I asked in sheer desperation. "I thought that you guys, out of all the Nerds, would be the ones most _sympathetic_ towards the Jocks."

At my words, Thad and Gloria exchanged looks, before they let out loud, bitter laughs.

"Sympathy!" Gloria cried, her hands fisted in tight balls as she tried to wipe a tear away from her eye. "_Sympathy_! Bo hasn't spoken to me ever since I joined this clique! He's ashamed of me, if you must know, Benjamin! He's ashamed to have an intelligent sister!"

"My half brother ha-th-n't even looked at me th-ince he joined the Jock clique," Thad agreed, his lips twisting into a horrible mock-smile. "I'm a humiliation, according to Dan. A di-th-grace! And he wa-th once a Nerd too!"

"_Disgrace_," I corrected, though my voice was so soft that no one heard me. "_Was_, not wa-th…"

"They don't care about education," Gloria spat out, her eyes narrowing from behind her glasses. "They don't care about having a healthy mind! It's all about their bodies! Their stupid, stupid _bodies_!"

I looked away from Gloria and Thad, and stared hard at my sneakers. Oh, sweet mother of Jesus, I wish I never started this conversation…

Tears were flowing down Gloria's cheeks now, but she was still smiling, still pouring out her true feelings towards Bo. "The only way I can speak to my brother," Gloria went on, her voice becoming choked, "is through Lance. You met him before, Benjamin. He's the middle child of my family. But even _he_ is getting exhausted from being in the middle! He's tired of being the messenger boy, and…now, he won't talk to either one of us! Hahahaha!"

I looked at her, surprised that she was laughing—but to my horror, I saw that she was _crying_. She and Thad were both full-out crying, and I had no idea on how to get them to stop. "Guys," I tried, "maybe we should just focus on something else for a while—"

"I HATE BO!" Gloria screamed, flinging her glasses away as she finally sobbed into my shoulder. "I HATE HIM SO MUCH, BENJAMIN!"

"I hate my brother," Thad whispered. "I hate him th-o much…"

"THERE'S NOTHING GREAT ABOUT SPORTS! NOTHING! NO ONE WILL CARE ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS IN THE END! NO ONE!"

"No one will care in the end. No one…"

Throughout this startling revelation, this frightening exposure of the soul, I said nothing. Words would only worsen a situation like this. Instead, I held Gloria close as she cried, and placed a comforting hand on Thad's shoulder.

At the end, we all agreed not to mention this again.

-----------

_Time Frame: Past_

_Subject: Bo Jackson and Dan Wilson_

"Swimmer, on your mark! Get set! GO!"

While I discussed security with the Nerds, I spent the nights secretly practicing with the Jocks.

They weren't really "practices" if you think about it. I was the only one who was swimming in the pool, though Karen Johnson occasionally joined me so that we could race one another in the water. Coach Beckham would be on the sidelines, and he'd time me while he shouted at me to do a freestyle lap, or 50 meters of butterfly, or 25 meters of breaststroke.

The Butterfly is apparently my best stroke. It also happens to be one of the hardest strokes. Typical.

Bo and Dan told me not to complain.

"You're lucky that Coach likes you so much," Bo snapped, while I held onto a floating board and kicked in the water. "I don't know what the hell he sees in you, but you'd better not screw us up, okay _Nerd_?"

"Yeah," Dan added, punching his fist into his hand menacingly. "If you do, we'll make you and all of your little Nerd friends pay."

My hands clenched angrily at the board, and my kicking flew off rhythm. "Firstly," I panted, as I kicked even harder in frustration, "I'm not—a Nerd. Get that through—your heads!"

"You look like a Nerd," Bo retorted.

"You act like a Nerd," Dan agreed.

I glared at them, choosing to cease my kicking as my body slowly floated on top of the water. "That doesn't automatically make me a Nerd," I shot back. "Yeah, I study, but if I don't, I lose my scholarship here. So _there_, assholes."

I wish I hadn't said that. At my insult, Dan and Bo immediately grew enraged, and had Coach Beckham not been there, I was sure that they would have beaten me up. I had to change the subject, and I had to change it _now_. "Why do you hate the Nerds so much, anyway?" I asked, praying that they'd take the bait. "You guys have younger brothers and sisters in that group."

Can you believe that that was, again, the wrong move to make? Bo and Dan suddenly looked even angrier than before. Jesus, there's no way my luck is _that_ bad, is it? IS IT?!

But their anger wasn't directed at me. "They're kind of the reason _why_ we don't like the Nerds," Bo snarled at me, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he crossed his arms. "The Nerds...think they're all that, just cause they're smarter than everyone else." Bo glared at me. "Do you think it's _easy_, trying to study for all the classes we have to take? I try my best, and all I get is a B plus."

"B minus for me," Dan muttered.

_That's actually better than what some of the other Jocks get,_ I thought privately. To their faces, however, I said, "If it's so hard, then why don't you ask Gloria or Thad to help you out? They're your siblings."

"_Half_ sibling," Dan spat at me bitterly. "Mom divorced my dad and had _Thad _with some smart-ass loser." He turned his gaze to the side angrily, and for a moment, I couldn't help but notice how similar Dan was in appearance to his brother.

Or half brother. Whatever.

"I think they miss you guys," I said quietly, letting by body sink until only my head was visible. "Gloria and Thad, I mean. If I had a big brother, I sure as hell wouldn't want him to hate me, just because we have different interests."

"Man, what do you know?" Bo retorted, swiping at my head as he leaned over the pool edge to grab me. In response, I quickly ducked under the water and swam away until I was a safe distance away from him.

"To be honest," I yelled from my end of the pool, "this whole Jock-and-Nerd hatred doesn't make any sense to me. If you guys combined your talents, you'd be virtually unstoppable…wouldn't you?"

"Just shut up, Shortman!" Dan yelled back. "You don't know nothing! NOTHING! You think the Nerds are victims here? Just wait until you get a bad grade. Then you'll see how loyal they are to you!"

-----------

_Time Frame: Past_

_Subject: Karen and Francois "Fatty" Johnson_

Fatty's real name, believe it or not, is Francois. I don't know why I didn't know about this earlier. Heck, I don't think _anyone_ knew what Fatty's real name was, other than Karen.

They're second cousins by the way. Karen and Fatty, I mean.

When Karen first told me this, I initially thought, _Oh dear lord. Not another Nerd/Jock family rivalry._ But surprisingly, Karen told me that she and Fatty are on neutral terms with one another. When she and Fatty pass by one another in the halls, they even give each other friendly smiles, before going about their daily business.

"How did you guys do it?" I asked, completely astonished at Karen's relative kindness towards her Nerd cousin. "Bo and Gloria are at each other's throats, and Thad and Dan are on the verge of mental breakdowns. How do you and Fatty manage to stay so…so _sane_?"

Karen merely shrugged her shoulders at me, and gave me a smile. "I guess it's because we don't really think about it," she said simply. "We weren't really all that close to begin with, so there wasn't much to break when I joined the Jocks."

"But you're not at each others throats," I observed. "Surely there's some secret you two are keeping from the rest of the school."

"There's no secret about it, Benji. He does what he wants to do, and I do what I want to do. I stay out of his business, and he stays out of mine. Does it matter what we do, as long as we stay friends the end of the day? I don't think so."

I thought about it for a moment, before I nodded my head. "That makes sense, Karen. You really are smart, you know." I gave her a smile, and a kiss on the cheek.

The blonde girl blushed, before she coughed nervously and propped a book in her lap. "Benji," she said sternly, "don't flatter me. You promised you'd help me study for that English test on _Julius Caesar_."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." I sighed, and pointed to a passage in the play. "Here, Mark Anthony plays on the crowd's stupidity to turn the tables against Brutus."

"Oh…is that what happened? I thought they were just making a speech."

"No, everything is tactical. Never assume anything, Karen."

-----------

_Time Frame: Past_

_Subject: Derby and Darcy Harrington_

Darcy and I have a "secret" relationship.

…

Yeah, right.

Almost everyone in school knows that Darcy and I are in a relationship. However, it's old news now, and thankfully no one's talking about it anymore, which is good news for me. Adrian and _Ace_ still have no clue of my existence, and unless some idiot goes out and blabbers my name to _them_, I'll be okay.

I'm not so sure about Derby Harrington, however.

I have had the horrendous misfortune of meeting Darcy's older brother, and my first impression of him was that he was an arrogant son-of-a-pineapple. I'd normally say "bitch," but even _that_ word seems too good to use on Derby. I find it utterly amazing that while Derby and Darcy have the same blue eyes, Darcy's are much warmer, while Derby's look like two icy glaciers in the middle of his eye sockets.

It's amazing how similar those two look…and act…and talk…but there's something distinctly different about them.

Creepy.

Our meeting was completely accidental, you must realize that. Now, as my girlfriend, Darcy also knew of my secret swim practices, and during one of my days off, she took it upon herself to treat me to a day at the spa for all my hard work. For once, I didn't resist her. I _needed_ a little pampering, to tell you the truth. My body ached and creaked in places I never knew could ache and creak. Hell, Darcy could have even had her way with me while those pretty masseurs massaged my back. I didn't care anymore. I was too worn _out_.

But alas…I never get what I want.

Not five minutes into the massage, and already I heard Derby's voice. At first, I didn't know who he was—Darcy had only described him to me verbally, and I had only seen his picture once. But I heard Miss Darcy's voice rise to an irritated shrill, I lifted my head from the massage chair…

…and looked into the cold eyes of Derby Harrington.

Crap.

I froze under the older boy's fierce stare. I don't know what came over me, but—but I suddenly felt like a very small child under his stare. There was something _chilling_ about the way Derby looked at me. It was as if he could rip my very being apart with only his eyes. It was as if he could ruin my life with one word, with one wave of the hand. It was startling. It was frightening.

It was downright disturbing.

"Derby!" Darcy shrieked, tugging at her older brother's arm uselessly as she tried to divert his attention back to herself. "Darn it, Derby! You're ruining my _date_! Go away!"

"Date?" Derby's eyes narrowed even further, until they were mere slits. "Who said you could go out on a rendezvous, baby sister? And with a commoner boy, no less?" I gulped and looked away, noticing out of the corner of my eye that the masseurs were hurriedly fleeing the room.

I was going to die, and by a _Prep_, no less. Oh, the bitter irony.

"How did you find out I was out with a commoner boy?" Darcy demanded, her little fists clenched into tight balls. "Who told you? It was supposed to remain a secret!"

"A secret? A SECRET?" Derby stared at his younger sister in disbelief. "You stupid girl! Then _entire_ town knows of your filthy slumming relationship! I had to find out from the damn _hairdresser_, for crying out loud!"

"Damn that Jonathan!" Darcy cursed.

"And _you_!" Derby turned his cold eyes towards me, and for a second I seriously considered running away. But somehow, I found the courage (or stupidity, I don't know which) to remain where I was.

I stared at him boldly in the eye. "Yeah?"

"How _dare_ you consider yourself worthy enough to court my baby sister. You're nothing but peasant filth! You're not half the man she deserves!"

"Be silent, Derby!" Darcy screamed, stomping her foot on the ground. "I'll decide who I want, not you!"

"Girl, you'd better shut your mouth or I'll give you a good thrashing!"

That statement angered me. This boy, supposedly six years my senior, was willing to hit women, and his own _sister_, no less. I found myself stomping towards him, grabbing him by the bottom of his Aquaberry shirt. "Touch Miss Darcy," I snarled, "and I'll give _you_ a good thrashing! Haven't you heard? It's not polite to hit a lady!"

Derby stared at me in shock, probably because I don't think he ever expected a kid like me to stand up to him.

I don't know _exactly_ what happened next. I remember there was a quick flash, then blinding pain in my left eye. Then, everything became black.

When I awoke hours later, I was lying on my back on the floor, all alone. The masseurs (who had been trying to rouse me for god knows how long) told me that Derby had beaten me to the point of unconsciousness (which didn't take long), before dragging his screaming sister out of the spa by force.

-----------

_Time Frame: Past_

_Subject: Adrian Aquaberry, Ace, and James "Jimmy" Hopkins, Part Two_

"What do you think?" I asked dryly, as Jimmy and I hid behind several shrubs by the Auto Shop.

He frowned, and gave me a doubtful look. "I dunno, Ben…"

Through the openings in the leaves, we saw Ace following Zoe everywhere, trying to sweet talk her with his fake, rough-sounding voice while offering her a daisy.

Really, why can't anyone _see _it?

"What the hell is with the daisies?" Zoe yelled, grabbing the flower and shoving the blooms right into Ace's face. "Damn it, I _hate_ daisies! Stop giving me these damn flowers!"

Ace opened his mouth to say something, but then he suddenly sneezed. Three times. He rubbed his nose with his right index finger vigorously to get the pollen out, but had little success. "I thought," he said gruffly as he rubbed, "that you _liked _daisies, okay? ACHOO! Someone told me you liked them, so I assumed—"

"You assumed wrong, dumb ass!" Zoe yelled, before she angrily stomped away.

"B-but Zoe, Jimmy told me—wait, Zoe! WAIT!"

As Ace ran after the very disgruntled Zoe, I heard Jimmy snicker deviously next to me. "Man," he laughed, "that Ace is an _idiot_. That was too easy…"

"Huh." I raised a brow. "Did you happen to tell Adrian too? I saw him trying to give daisies to Zoe the other day…"

At this, Jimmy's grin evaporated. "What?" His eyes hardened, and I saw the dislike immediately return to his face. "Is that man-slut hitting on Zoe now, too? Damn it, I outta kick his ass right here and now!"

"You're in no position to be calling other people man-sluts. You're not exactly Mr. Faithful yourself…"

"Ben, shut up! That rich punk probably heard the daisy thing from Ace, or something."

"And don't you find that _weird_?" I cried, almost giving away our hiding positions to a passing prefect. We fell silent as the prefect looked in our way suspiciously, before continuing on his rounds. I waited until he was out of earshot, before I continued. "Damn it, Jim! Don't you think it's strange that Adrian, a Prep, would be _that_ close to Ace? Who, in all honesty, is nothing but a lowdown, good-for-nothing Greaser?"

"…huh. You got a point there."

"And don't you find it funny that Ace appears in the Auto Shop _right after_ Adrian leaves for his classes? Never before?"

Jimmy thought for a moment, before he gave me a hard stare. "Ben, what are you trying to say?"

"What do you _think_ I'm trying to say?"

"It would go a whole lot faster," Jimmy pointed out, "if you'd just tell me what the big deal between Adrian and Ace is."

I sighed, and stood up from the shrubs. "Forget it, Jim," I muttered. "Just forget it." I walked away from Jimmy, my head hanging low.

He didn't see it. No one did.

Later that night, Jimmy came back to the dorm, looking disheveled and worn out. There was a look of faint shock on his face, but he told me nothing, other than the fact that he and Adrian were going to fight in the boxing club on the day of the boys' swim meet.

-----------

_Time Frame: Present_

My hands are shaking. Why wouldn't they stop shaking?

Surprisingly, I could hear Darcy's voice echo through the building, and I could almost see her prancing through the stands, cheering my name as she waved her arms overenthusiastically in the air.

"GOOOOO BULLWORTH!" I heard her scream. "NO ONE CAN BEAT MY SNOOKUMS! HE'S THE BEST!"

"Yeah!" I heard Pedro shout in agreement, though his cheer was rather weak compared to Miss Darcy's.

I just can't believe it. I was _sure_ that her brother would have forbidden her to see me again. Did she like me _that_ much? Jesus, now I don't know what to think…

"_The Boys 50 meter Butterfly is about to begin. Swimmers, please take your starting positions…"_

I stood up on the white starting block, knowing full well that many of the non-Jock students were staring at me with open mouths. The female Jocks, including Karen, were giving me smiles and grins, but the male Jocks were doing their best to _not_ look at me, as if I was some great humiliation to them.

Assholes.

"Is that Benji?" said a voice that suspiciously sounded like Petey's.

"No way," answered a voice that suspiciously sounded like Gord's. "I thought he was a Nerd, not a Jock. And anyway, isn't he a hermit now? He's been hiding from the entire school for days on end…"

"No, he's _not_!"

That last voice was loud, angry. It came from the entrance to the pool building, and when I turned my gaze towards the doors, I almost cried in happiness when I saw Gloria, Thad, and Fatty standing at the entrance.

Oh thank god! They came!

Wait a minute. They came. They came?! ARE THEY TRYING TO KILL THEMSELVES?!

The Jocks were staring at them in complete disbelief, as was everyone sitting in the stands. The Nerds froze slightly under the many, _many_ stares, until Gloria finally lifted her nose in the air and sniffed haughtily.

"What are you all staring at?" she said loudly. "Isn't there a swimming competition underway? We should be cheering for the boys!" She turned to me, and grinned. "Good luck Benjamin!" She then hesitated, before she added cautiously, "Good luck, Bo!"

I swear, if I had a camera, I would have taken a picture of Bo's face. The look was _priceless_.

"Yeah!" Thad joined in. He waved at Dan, who looked as if his eyes were about to pop out of his skull. "Give it your all, big brother! I'm cheering for you all the way!"

This effectively silenced the entire Jock clique for the rest of the evening, while it put a large grin on my face. As the referee pointed his gun towards the ground, I slipped my goggles over my eyes and hunched over on the white starting block. The water looked so cold…

This was something I had to do. These were secrets I _had_ to keep.

I hope Jimmy will understand later on.

"_Swimmers, on your marks! Get set! __**GO!**_"

-----------

**Read and review. Seriously. **


	11. Observation 11: Discovery

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: This drabble is separated in four parts.

We're gonna have to go back to the past a little bit. This drabble takes place a few days before Benji's swim meet. Don't get confused, okay?

Adrian Aquaberry and Ace's secret will be revealed!

**Observation Eleven: Discovery**

_**i. Suspicion**_

_Goddamn it._

With his mind preoccupied with a growing concern (and simultaneously, frustration) for a certain wheat-haired child, Jimmy found himself trudging half-heartedly towards the Auto Shop, grumbling every step of the way as passerby gave him strange looks.

"Hey buddy…you okay?"

"OW! Don't bump into me, sir! That hurt!"

Don't touch me or I'll tell Dr. Crabblesnitch!"

He ignored most of them. However, the last complaint, made by a rather bummed out Sheldon, was resolved by dumping the squealing black child into a nearby garbage can.

"EEEEK! I'm telling! When I get out of here, I'm telling Dr. Crabblesnitch!"

_Damn you, Ben, _Jimmy thought angrily._ Why do you __**always**__ have to complicate things? Why can't you just flat out tell me what your deal is with Adrian and Ace? Why do you have to make things so much __**harder**__ with your goddamn—_

"You okay, Jimmy?" Ray asked as Jimmy stomped by him. "You know, grumbling to one's self isn't normally a good sign."

Jimmy glared at the obese boy, his hands clenched from all of his pent up frustration. "Shut your mouth and go away Ray, or I'll wire your gums shut for you."

"…okay then…"

---------------

_**ii. Observation**_

Adrian and Ace.

They were definitely two of the biggest bastards Jimmy had ever had the misfortune of meeting in his life, second and third only to Gary Smith. In all honesty, Jimmy could have cared less about the two annoying additions to the student body, and he would have been perfectly fine with ignoring them for the rest of the school year. However, after seeing how much they affected Benji, he was determined to figure out the bizarre connection between Adrian Aquaberry and Ace…Ace…

Huh. What _was_ Ace's last name, anyway?

"Hey, greaseballs!" Jimmy yelled as he walked into the Auto Shop. A few Greaser members glared in his direction—Vance and Peanut primarily—but other than them and Neil, the area was almost empty.

_Damn it._

"What is it, Hopkins?" Neil asked, one of his brows raised questionably. "Classes finished fifteen minutes ago…and you conveniently weren't there, if I recall."

"Felt sick," Jimmy grumbled. "Where's Ace? I gotta talk to him."

"_Ace_ left." Neil crossed his oil covered arms, and gave Jimmy a smirk. "Interesting kid, isn't he, Hopkins? Knows a lot about bikes already, even though he's a little twerp."

Vance pulled himself out from under the car he was working on and wiped off some of the gasoline that had leaked onto his face. "He ain't a twerp!" he protested. "Ace is pretty cool! He told me he got this part time job working on bikes for this new company that's coming out. Told me that he could help me get an internship there, or something like that."

Neil snorted. "Medici, if you knew half the things about Ace that _I_ knew, you wouldn't think highly of him."

"Oh really?" This picketed Jimmy's interest. "And what do _you_ know about him, Neil?"

The shop teacher snorted again, and turned his attention back to the broken motorcycle he was working on. "Jim, it's not my place to be talking about other students. I once spilled the beans on Larry here, and now everybody calls him 'Peanut.' Breaks my heart, it does…"

"HEY!" Peanut cried in protest. "You promised not to talk about that anymore!"

"The _point_ is," Neil continued, ignoring the comically frantic Peanut, "that if you wanna find out about Ace, then ask him yourself." The shop teacher paused, before he quietly added, "Or ask Adrian Aquaberry."

"Why would that Prep know where he is?" Vance asked curiously, again sticking his head out. "Ace wouldn't hang around with those over-fortunate trust fund fairies."

"Medici, shut up and get to work!" Neil snapped. "You don't know nothing about Ace, okay? So quit slacking and fix that damn car!"

---------------

_**iii. Investigation**_

Unfortunately, Adrian Aquaberry was about as helpful as the Greasers.

"Why would I know where Ace is?" Adrian asked curiously, as he modeled some new clothing in front of a gushing Gord. Stepping up and down the catwalk that was recently installed in his suite in Harrington House, Adrian frowned, and gave Jimmy a disapproving glare. "The matters of those filthy Greasers are none of my concern. I could care less where Ace is. What made you think I'd know of his whereabouts?"

"A Nerd and the Auto Shop teacher told me that you'd know," Jimmy sighed, rubbing his already throbbing temples. "Since your name is often associated with Ace's, I thought I'd check out what's going on between you two. So far, you're not exactly in clear waters."

"What the devil do you mean?" Adrian cried, while simultaneously showing off his jean-covered hips in front of Gord. "While I admit I am acquainted with Ace, I haven't spoken to him since we've arrived at this school! How could I know where he is?" Adrian then shook his hips seductively, which was too much for the already drooling Gord. The brown-haired Prep swooned, and would have fainted where he stood had Jimmy not been there to hold him in place.

"Would you stop that?" Jimmy snapped at Adrian, who quickly stopped his hip shaking. To Gord, who was only half conscious, Jimmy slapped him awake, grumbling, "Wipe your chin, dumbass. He's not _that_ hot."

"Yes…he is…" Gord gurgled, which resulted in Jimmy promptly dropping the Prep onto the floor. "OW! Hopkins, you prick!"

"My fingers slipped," Jimmy replied flatly, holding his hands up in a pacifying gesture. He then turned to Adrian, and frowned. "Now…are you sure you don't know anything about Ace?"

Adrian shook his head. "Nothing whatsoever, Hopkins. However…" The black-haired Prep tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I must say, Ace _is_ a rather dashing, handsome, rugged looking beast. I should call him up again, for…old time's sake."

"WHAT?" Gord snapped out of his blissful stupor and turned to Adrian in horror, his eyes wide with shock. "You find that—that _grease monkey_ attractive? You've had _old times_ with him? WHAT ABOUT _US_?"

Adrian, who seemed to have realized his error, quickly tried to control some of his damage. "Oh, do forgive me, my dearest Gord! I was merely commenting on Ace's more…masculine features. Not that you aren't as beautiful as the gods!"

Jimmy rolled his eyes. "Beautiful. Right. As beautiful as the God of Dogs' Droppings, maybe…"

"OH, BE SILENT!" Gord screamed, throwing a temper tantrum right in the middle of Adrian's room. He pointed an accusing finger at the Aquaberry heir, and shrieked, "You've slutted around too much for my tastes, Adrian Aquaberry! I've heard that you've been chasing Zoe Taylor around like some pathetic lapdog for the past week! Well, I won't stand for this any longer, you hear me? I WON'T!"

"I absolutely agree," Adrian said breathlessly. He jumped off the catwalk and, in one swift movement, pulled Gord flush into his arms while pressing their foreheads together in a sensual manner. The dark-haired Prep smirked as Gord began to blush and stammer, and calmed him down by gently kissing him on the lips.

Jimmy groaned. "Not another fruity moment…"

"I love your beautiful smile," Adrian whispered to a near comatose Gord. "It makes the pools of my soul _brim_ with unending joy, and I am humbled by your inestimable radiance…" Adrian pulled Gord tighter against his body, and whispered into his ear, "Don't deny me, Gord. Don't deny my soul the joy it so desperately _needs…_"

Gord's only response was a pathetic whimper.

"That's it," Jimmy mumbled. "I'm out of here."

As he left, he saw Adrian stare at him out of the corner of his eye. It might have been his imagination, but for some reason, the Prep looked very worried.

---------------

_**iv. Interrogation**_

He hadn't expected to see Ace again that same day.

Normally, the _only_ time anyone ever saw Ace was in the Auto Shop area, and _only_ during the Auto Shop class. No one in or out of his age group seemed to know where he went during off hours—the young Greaser seemed to disappear when it was time for any other class, or any time that wasn't being taken up by Auto Shop.

He also didn't sleep in the dorms. After knocking on every door in the Boys' Dorm and pestering the Greasers non-stop for more information, Jimmy now had knowledge that Ace apparently had a home somewhere in the middle of Bullworth Town, and would commute to school instead of boarding there like everyone else.

It was downright disturbing how Ace seemed to isolate himself during Auto Shop off-hours. Even Petey didn't hide _this _much from the student body. So it completely caught Jimmy off guard when the young Greaser stomped angrily towards him that afternoon, his fists clenched and ready to fight.

_Oh boy..._

"Heard you've been asking around 'bout me," Ace said in his strange, rough voice. "By the way, I should fuck you over for tricking me like that! Now Zoe won't even look at me no more!"

Jimmy didn't answer him. Instead, he took in the Greaser's strangely disheveled appearance.

Normally, Ace had a clean, kept appearance. His brown hair was slicked back so that not even one strand of hair was out place, his black leather jacket was worn perfectly over his dark blue Bullworth sweater vest, and his dark, obscuring shades neatly covered a third of his face. But as of now, his hair was mussed, disorganized, and so out of place that Jimmy thought he actually saw _black_ hair coming out from underneath the brown. Ace's jacket looked crooked against his frame, and his sweater vest looked as if it had been hurriedly put on.

The only thing that was the same was the dark shades, which _still_ annoyingly covered a third of his face.

"You deaf?" Ace snapped, jerking Jimmy out of his thoughts. The young Greaser crossed his arms, his mouth set in a hard frown. "What the hell are you checking up on me for? I didn't do nothing."

"As of yet? No." Jimmy leaned against the wall of the main building, giving Ace a skeptical stare. "Then again…I don't know anything about you, kid. Maybe you did some things in _other_ schools that I don't know about."

Ace's frown deepened. "You implying something, 'King?'"

Jimmy mirrored Ace's frown with one of his own. "I don't know. Am I?"

Silence.

Then, Ace spoke. "What's this really about, Hopkins?"

"If you're guilty, then you should know."

"It would help," Ace said dryly, "if you'd just tell me wha'cha got on your mind."

"Fine." Jimmy paused, trying to pick his words carefully. "You ever…pick on some little kids before?"

"Eh?" Ace's mouth dropped slightly, as if from shock. "Little kids? I don't know no little kids. And—" here Ace grew angry "—even if I _did_, it sure as hell ain't any of your business. What happened? Did one of 'em say I stole his lunch money, or something?"

"Listen," Jimmy snapped, his frustration growing by the second, "I have a friend who's terrified to death of you, and he won't tell me why. Now I'm just trying to figure out why he'd be scared shitless of you, since you're obviously nothing more than a whiny little pussy!"

"Who the fuck are you calling a pussy?" Ace yelled, shoving Jimmy hard against his chest. "I can take you right here, right now!"

"Fuck you !" Jimmy shouted back, returning Ace's shove. Who the fuck did this little punk think he is? "Just tell me your connection with Adrian and Benji!"

"Benji?" Ace suddenly stopped, his mouth hitting the floor. Jimmy froze as well, realizing that he had just broken a promise to his youngest friend.

_Oh shit…_

"Benji…" Ace stared at Jimmy in surprise. (Or at least, Jimmy _thought_ Ace was staring at him. Damn shades…) "This Benji," Ace said slowly, his voice suddenly becoming less rough. "What's his last name?"

"None of your business," Jimmy said quickly.

Unfortunately, this didn't deter Ace one bit. "Does his full name happen to be Benjamin _Shortman_?" he asked, his voice suddenly sounding very _English_. "Is he a little boy with hair the color of wheat, with disgustingly large brown eyes, and a ridiculously effeminate face?"

"Ace, just drop it!" Jimmy yelled.

"He's _here_, isn't he? He's in this school!" Ace suddenly looked around wildly, as if he was a hunter looking for his prey. "Of all the places to be, I never thought…!"

"What do you want with him?" Jimmy yelled panickedly, his voice rising. He grabbed Ace by the collar, and held him in place as the younger boy tried to pull free. "What the hell did you do to Ben that made him so afraid of you?"

"He's afraid of me?" Ace found the guts to smirk. "That's good. The little pauper _deserves_ to feel fear, after what he and his father did to my family!"

"What the hell are you talking about? What's going on with you and Ben? And what the hell is wrong with your voice? TELL ME!" Jimmy shook Ace hard, and the younger boy's shades fell off…

…as well as his brown wig.

Jimmy's jaw hit the floor. In front of him, with his long, black hair spilling messily around his face, was Adrian Aquaberry.

---------------

**That's all for tonight, darlings. Next chapter might pop up at the middle or end of the week.**


	12. Observation 12: Personal

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: We're still a bit in the past, but at the end, things will get back on track. Also, the "shmexy" Stewart Lee returns! Dah-rool, dah-rool.

Of course, there will be a new mystery to solve.

**Observation Twelve: Personal**

Jerking himself out of Jimmy's hold, Adrian quickly grabbed his brown wig off of the ground and jammed it hurriedly over his black hair. A second later, a group of kids passed by them, but they paid no attention to either Jimmy or the rather scuffled looking _Ace_.

Or was it now permanently _Adrian_?

"It is imperative," Adrian said quietly as he covered his face with the dark shades, "that no one finds out about my double identity. If word gets out that I'm masquerading as Ace, my social standing with my fellow elites and the Greasers will be _destroyed_! _Demolished_! Obliterated into subatomic particles, and be left to wither into_ nothing_ in the harsh, unforgiving forces of nature!"

"Uh….huh." Jimmy raised a brow, and crossed his arms unconcernedly. "And I should listen to you because…?"

"_Because_?" Adrian stared at him in shock. "What do you mean? I just told you why you shouldn't tell my secret approximately twenty-seven seconds ago! Weren't listening, Hopkins?!"

"Oh, I was listening." Jimmy narrowed his eyes at the disguised Prep, and frowned. "I was listening to the sounds of a grave that's being dug up just for you."

"E-excuse me?"

"You idiot!" Jimmy snapped. "You think you can keep this secret forever? People are eventually gonna find out about this! And the longer you keep this 'identity' crap to yourself, the bigger the explosion's gonna be when the Preps and Greasers find out that you've been playing them both!"

"I haven't been _playing_ anyone!" Adrian cried out in frustration. "My feelings towards both cliques are genuine! I honestly love them all!" He grabbed Jimmy by the collar, and shook him madly. "This is _my_ life, do you hear me, Hopkins? I need to be both Ace and Adrian for reasons you can't possibly understand!"

Jimmy pushed Adrian off with a growl. "What reasons do you have for being a two-faced liar? I really can't see any, you trust-fund maggot!"

"Oh, leave off it!" The dark-haired (now brown-haired) Prep turned away from Jimmy and began to stomp towards the Auto Shop. "How would an ill-mannered beast like yourself ever understand the life of an elite?! You _can't_, that's what! I should—I should—"

Jimmy quickly grabbed Adrian by the arm, and spun him around so forcefully that the Prep's wig almost fell off. "Listen to me," Jimmy said curtly, his brown eyes staring hard into Adrian's dark ones. "I'll cut a deal with you, okay? I'll keep your stupid secret!"

"Really?" Adrian's eyes shined luminously, and he practically threw himself onto the less-than-pleased Jimmy. "Oh, _thank you_, Hopkins!" he squealed, rubbing his cheek joyfully against Jimmy's. "I swear, I will love you until my last mortal day on Earth! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" Adrian then kissed Jimmy on the nose, completely unaware of the throbbing vein on the older boy's forehead…

…which was just about to explode.

"GET—OFF!" Jimmy yelled, shoving the Prep backwards with so much force that Adrian nearly collided with the adjacent wall of the school building. Ignoring the hurt look that Adrian sent in his direction, Jimmy glared at the younger boy, and hissed, "Stop acting so damn fruity on me! Did you actually think that I was gonna keep quiet for free?"

"…yes?"

"NO YOU DIPSHIT!" Jimmy screamed, not caring that passersby were now giving him frightened stares. "I'm gonna keep quiet, but _only_ if you tell me what the hell's going on between you and Ben!"

Silence.

Silence.

And _more_ silence.

"WELL?! Are you gonna answer me sometime this year?"

Adrian bit his lip, his head hung low against his chest. Then, after a long stretch of pensive thinking, the dark-haired Prep said quietly, "No. I can't tell you _that_. Anything but _that_."

Jimmy stared at Adrian in utter disbelief. "I'm asking you for one thing, and you can't even tell me why you hate some little kid? Are you stupid, or just naturally dumb?"

"It's personal!" Adrian snapped, and for a second, Jimmy was reminded of Benji screaming the exact same line to him.

_It's personal…it's personal…it's too fucking __**personal**_

Well, fuck that!

"It's personal to _me_ now," Jimmy retorted, crossing his arms and he glared at the Prep. "Either you spill the beans about what you did to Ben and promise to leave him alone…or I go on the school speakers tomorrow and tell the ENTIRE school who Ace really is."

Adrian paled. "You wouldn't. You can't even access the speakers. Miss Danvers is always in the office!"

Jimmy grinned wickedly. "Never say never, faker. So, unless you want tomorrow to be Armageddon Day, I suggest—"

"NO!" Adrian clenched his fists angrily. "No, I will NOT leave Benjamin Shortman alone! He deserves to suffer for what his family did to mine! I…I…" Adrian thought desperately for a moment, before his features suddenly lit up. Pointing a finger directly at Jimmy's face, Adrian puffed up his chest, and yelled out, "James Hopkins, I challenge you to a duel!"

"…what?" Jimmy blinked. "A duel? For what?"

"For supremacy, my dear King of Bullworth Academy! If I win, I get your respective title as leader of this school. Afterwards, you _will_ tell me where that bastard child is hiding, and you _will _stay silent about my identities!"

--------------

He never planned on the situation getting _that_ out of control.

He certainly didn't plan on Adrian challenging him to a fight at the boxing club for his "King of Bullworth" title. Jimmy thought that the little fruit fairy would have caved into his threats like everyone else did, and that he'd have some good news to bring to Benji by the day's end. Nowhere in his psyche did he ever consider the possibility that Adrian might fight back.

Well, fight back he did. And now, Jimmy's position was on the line.

_Damn it, Ben. This is all your fault…_

Benji.

Jimmy paused as he reached the iron gates of the school. Something was definitely going on between Benji and Adrian, and from the looks of it, whatever secret they were carrying was no laughing matter. But what was it? What was so terrible that it made Benji afraid of Adrian? What was so horrendous that it made Adrian want to inflict suffering upon Benji and his family?

What was so painful that neither party was willing to divulge the facts?

_The little pauper deserves to feel fear…he deserves to suffer for what his family did to mine…_

Adrian's voice rang repeatedly throughout his head, and Jimmy couldn't shake himself free of it. Again and again the words echoed through his mind, and despite his best efforts to ignore them, they made him wonder.

…_deserves to feel fear…deserves to suffer…_

"Hello, Mr. Hopkins."

Jimmy froze. He knew that voice. That calm, soft, seemingly unassuming voice. It was etched into his brain, that voice, and he couldn't forget it if he tried.

Stewart Lee.

He turned and glared at the Asian boy. "What do you want, cheater?" Jimmy spat unpleasantly. "I've got things to do, so if you're here to insult me or shove some overly poetic crap up my ass, reschedule it for another day."

Stewart laughed, that poisonous, charming smile still plastered on his face as always. "Mr. Hopkins, as amusing as I find your brutish manners to be, I must express my curiosity. Why are you leaving the academy now? Surely you know that the swim meet between the males of our schools takes place tonight?"

"Uh-huh."

"And yet you leave?"

Jimmy shrugged. "I figured you wouldn't be stupid enough to try to cheat twice in the same school. That would be suicide." _Also_, Jimmy thought privately, _the Bullworth students are keeping a closer eye on you now. The Jocks are much more careful this time around. I don't have to play watchdog…_

"Aha." Stewart's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "I assure you, Mr. Hopkins, that my school does not _cheat_."

"What do you call last time then?"

"A misfortunate accident."

"Right." Jimmy rolled his eyes, an act that did not go unnoticed by the Asian boy.

"You doubt my word, Mr. Hopkins?" Stewart asked calmly, though his eyes were slowly turning icy.

"Dude, you haven't given me any proof that I should _trust_ your word. Doubt is all I have."

An uncomfortable silence passed between the two leaders.

Finally, Stewart laughed. "Very well, Mr. Hopkins. Let's play your little game. Who knows? I may even gain some amusement from this experience."

"Whatever."

With that, Stewart turned and headed towards the pool, with two beautiful girls trailing behind him. Before he turned the corner, he stopped and turned back to Jimmy. "By the way, Mr. Hopkins," he called out. "It was risky to enter that child's name to the roster so late into the season. I didn't even realize he was a part of the team until just a few hours ago."

_What?_ Jimmy blinked. Who the hell was Stewart talking about? All of the boys on the swim team were juniors and older…

But the Asian boy offered no more talk. Instead, he merely gave Jimmy one last, venomous smile, and headed off towards the athletics department.

_Sick motherfucker._

--------------

"You're late," Adrian grumbled, tapping his gloved fist against his face.

Jimmy snorted and climbed into the ring, his black boxing outfit standing out against Adrian's royal blue. Cracking his neck to the side, Jimmy remarked lazily, "I'm here, aren't I? Stop your complaining, rich boy, and get on with it." He then looked around warily. "We're alone, right?"

"YES, Hopkins. It's just you, me, and that homeless man I found wandering the streets five minutes ago. When I make a promise, I keep it."

"Just asking. You Preps tend to be backstabbers at times, you know…"

"Humph!" Adrian snorted in displeasure, before he turned to the drunken bum who was sleeping haphazardly next to the bell. "Hello? Smelly old man? Wake up, please!"

The bum mumbled, before he rolled over on the ground, snoring.

Adrian's eye twitched. Then, he calmly took a deep, _deep_ breath, before he screamed, "OLD MAN! WAKE UP…_NOW_!!!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGH!" The drunken bum shrieked and sat straight up, his eyes wide and dilated as he looked around wildly. "Wha' happen'? Did the agents come to take mah brain?"

"No, you old fart!" Adrian yelled. "I paid you good money to be the bellboy! Now ring that damn bell, and _keep_ ringing it every forty seconds, or else I will not give you the rest of your damn money!"

"SHEESH!" the bum complained. "Whiny little brat, aren't 'cha?"

"Get on with it, old man!"

"Fine!" The drunken bum reached over and rang the bell, settling himself on a chair as he watched the two fighters slowly circle each other in the ring.

Jimmy let out a low whistle as Adrian danced around him. Who the hell did the little fruit fairy think he was? Mohammad Ali? The imitation was bad enough, but Adrian's boxing stance, from a glance alone, was _terrible_.

It looked as if the Prep was uncomfortable in the boxing gloves, as if he had never truly boxed before in his life.

"You know, _Ace_," Jimmy said scathingly, "this is your last chance to walk out. I really don't want to have to put you in the hospital."

"Oh, shut up!" Adrian screeched, and threw a quick punch at Jimmy's cheek. The older boy pulled his head back just in time, however, and countered with a quick uppercut that struck right below Adrian's chin. "OW!"

The Prep staggered, his eyes somewhat glassy, before he shook his head fiercely and regained his focus. Jimmy smirked, and threw a three punch combination, all of which Adrian blocked. However, Jimmy then threw a _hard_ punch that broke through Adrian's defense, and delivered a five-punch combo so quickly that the younger boy had no time to even register that he was being attacked.

First, a punch to the left.

Then, a punch to the right.

Third, another punch to the left.

Fourth, a solid jab in the stomach to break his concentration, and then…

…a powerful uppercut that sent Adrian straight to the floor.

And it hadn't even been thirty seconds yet.

"Knockout!" Jimmy cheered, parading around the ring in total victory as Adrian kneeled on the floor, moaning. "I told you to quit, didn't I? You just had to be a stubborn little prick, didn't you? Who's the daddy, rich boy? Who's—the—DADDY?" Jimmy tossed aside his gloves, each one bouncing off the back of the defeated Preppie's head in mockery.

Adrian gasped for breath. His stomach still smarted from Jimmy's quick jab, and it took a long while to recover from the blow. However, when he finally regained his wind, Adrian slowly stood up, his dark eyes narrowed and locked onto Jimmy's cheery brown ones.

He never said a word.

Slowly, silently, the dark-haired Prep removed his boxing gloves, and tossed the red appendages to the ground. He then moved noiselessly towards Jimmy, who had by now stopped cheering, and was now watching Adrian with a confused—and wary—look in his eye.

_What the hell is going on?_

Then, without warning, Adrian grabbed Jimmy by the shoulders and yanked the older boy's upper body downwards, smashing his knee directly into Jimmy's torso. The older boy choked; white-hot pain suddenly seared into through his chest, and for a second, Jimmy couldn't breathe…something had broken for sure, maybe a rib or two…

Suddenly, something slammed into the back of his skull—Adrian's elbow. Jimmy's vision turned white, and for the next moment, he couldn't see, only feel. He felt himself crash into the ground, and he felt sharp blows all over his body. Kicks, punches, slaps, spittle...these attacks knew no boundaries.

It was horrible. The dark-haired Prep seemed to know just where to strike…at the shoulder, at the neck, at certain points on the chest…what kind of fucking martial art did he study? Jujitsu?

"Damn you!" he heard Adrian scream. "Why do you have to protect the little home wrecker? Just tell me where he is, damn it! TELL ME WHERE SHORTMAN IS HIDING!"

_Shortman. Shortman…Benji!_

Jimmy suddenly felt strength return to his body, and his vision partially returned, just enough for him to see the foot that was about to smash into his face. Jimmy grabbed Adrian by the ankle and twisted his foot around so harshly that the dark-haired Prep screamed and fell to the ground. Jimmy then crawled on top of Adrian and grabbed him by the hair, holding the Aquaberry heir still as Jimmy delivered a series of punches to his face. Dark, bloody bruises began to appear all around the Prep's eyes, nose, and cheeks, and Jimmy showed absolutely no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Oh yeah…Gord was seriously going to give him hell for this.

Jimmy hadn't noticed Adrian's hand creeping towards one of the abandoned boxing gloves. Before Jimmy realized this, Adrian had swung the red appendage directly at Jimmy's head, hitting the older boy solidly in the cheek.

While this, in terms of damage, did absolutely nothing, it stunned Jimmy long enough for Adrian to escape the older boy's clutches. The Prep jumped out of the ring with Jimmy following closely behind, and grabbed the fire extinguisher that hung on the nearby wall.

WHACK!

"Shit!" Jimmy reeled from the blow, his head now throbbing. God, those things HURT if they were used as a blunt weapon! But Jimmy didn't have time to think. Adrian swung at him again, hitting his back this time, and Jimmy collapsed over the ringside table, crashing face first into the backpacks that he and Adrian used to store their belongings before the fight.

"Whoa!" the drunken bum hollered from nearby. "This is too much! I need a drink!"

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

Again and again and again, Adrian pounded the extinguisher into Jimmy's body. Again and again and again, Jimmy screamed with pain, his hands clenching around the soft material of the bags. Good god, was this it? Was this how he was finally going to be defeated? WAS THIS IT?

His hands enclosed around a small paper orb.

_What's this?_

_Pepper Bombs. Thad and I made it…_

Jimmy forced his eyes open. His blurry vision focused on the white orb in his hand, one of two that Benji had made for him only a short while ago…

_What do these things do? More importantly, what am I supposed to do with them?_

_They're like stink bombs, but they're only made for one target at a time. You throw it at someone's face, and the victim is guaranteed to be sneezing and coughing and gasping for the next fifteen minutes…_

"HYAAAAAH!" Jimmy rolled off of the table, just before Adrian could slam the extinguisher into the back of his head. With the orb clenched tightly in his hand, Jimmy quickly took aim at Adrian's furious face and threw with all his might, grinning when the ball exploded against Adrian's nose in a large cloud of gray.

The effect was instantaneous.

"ACHOO! ACHOO! AH—AH—ACHOO!" In dismay, Adrian dropped the extinguisher and tried to wave the cloud of pepper away, all the while coughing and sneezing and rubbing his reddening eyes… "H-hopkins!" the Prep cried. "What did you do to—to—ACHOO!"

Realizing that this was his chance, Jimmy quickly grabbed Adrian by the back of his head, his fingers tangling themselves in the Prep's dark hair. He then turned to an adjacent wall and _slammed_ Adrian's face against the plaster and concrete, grimacing when a sickening crack was heard.

Adrian howled in pain, but Jimmy forcefully slammed the Prep's head against the wall again…and again…and again…blood was oozing out of Adrian's nose and mouth, but Jimmy kept hitting him again…and again…and again…

A sharp pain then struck Jimmy in the chest. Adrian, in a last fit of desperation, had slammed his sharp elbow into Jimmy's chest, right in the exact same spot where his knee had stuck Jimmy near the beginning of the bloody brawl.

To be hit once was one thing. To be hit twice, in an area where ribs had already been broken, was too much. Jimmy felt pain wash over his body as all of his limbs shut down, and he fell, almost lifelessly, to the floor. Adrian tumbled after him, the younger boy having blacked out after his ditch attempt at rebuttal.

Jimmy saw Adrian's blood pool on the floor. The red liquid seeped towards him slowly…no, he can't have it touch him. He had to move away…but he couldn't move…too much pain…

Everything was going dark…

"Shit," Jimmy heard the drunken bum mutter. "Maybe I should call the hospital or somethin'…"

_Oh god._

It was too much. Jimmy passed out.

--------------

"Ow. Quit it."

"Sorry."

"Ow!_ Quit it._"

"Sorry."

"OW! QUIT IT, ASSHOLE!"

"Sorry," Gary giggled, moving his finger away from Jimmy's bandaged chest. Jimmy glared at the unstable sociopath, before he moved his seat further towards Adrian's bed.

After the fight, Jimmy had woken up in the hospital. How he got there, he wasn't exactly sure, but the doctors sternly confirmed what he already knew. Broken ribs, heavy bruising on the skin, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera…however, the minor hemorrhaging in the brain was a new injury, one that Jimmy had never experienced before.

Damn Adrian and his damn fire extinguishers…

Adrian had fared far worse. Not only was his entire head bandaged up, but he was still only half-conscious. His ankle had been severely twisted in the fight, and the doctors had forced the dark-haired Prep to wear a temporary cast until the damage was healed.

"Jimmy, why'd you have to fight with him?!" Petey cried, almost bawling when he saw Jimmy's horrendous state. "Jesus…you could have died! Brain hemorrhages are nothing to laugh about! People have died for _less_, you know!"

"Yeah, yeah," Jimmy mumbled, feeling his ribs lightly as he winced with pain. He still couldn't get over the unconventional attack that Adrian had pulled on him. That kid was no boxer, but he was one hell of a fighter…

"Ow…" Adrian moaned from the next bed, where a sobbing Gord was kneeled at the foot of the mattress. He turned his bandaged head to Jimmy, and managed to grin through all the gauze. "Nice fight, 'King.' You won…"

"Oh, don't _talk_!" Gord wailed, holding onto Adrian's hand as tears flowed down his cheeks. "Your beautiful face is _ruined_! How am I supposed to kiss you now, with all those bandages in the way?"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll manage," Gary said in a faux cheerful voice. "After all, kissing isn't really the most important thing to worry about behind closed doors…am I right?"

Gord flushed, and turned away embarrassedly. Adrian, however, merely chuckled.

"It's my fault," he said to Gord. "I guess we'll just have to work _something_ out, my darling prince. But I'm sure that having you near me will speed my recovery tenfold! You lovely visage can do no less, I'm sure…"

While Gord purred with happiness at the poetic words, Jimmy and Gary gagged in repulsion. Petey merely blushed, and lowered his gaze ashamedly.

"Oh, _Adrian_!" Gord hugged the Aquaberry heir tightly, only to hurriedly pull away when Adrian yelped in pain. "Oh no! I'm so sorry…"

"S'alright," Adrian groaned, before he again turned his gaze towards Jimmy. "Hey, Hopkins?"

Jimmy gave Adrian a tired look. "What?"

"I just want you to know…that even though I _demand_ a rematch…I think you're all right." Adrian grinned crookedly at Jimmy, and Jimmy could see that the Prep's teeth were stained with blood.

"Whatever," Jimmy found himself saying. "I'm not gonna give up on Ben, though."

"I know, Hopkins. I'll beat the information out of you eventually, but I know. You're loyal to the child…"

Gary, Petey, and Gord all raised a questioning brow. "What's this about?" Gary asked slowly. "You two fighting over Shortman, or something?"

"Shut up!" Jimmy and Adrian snapped simultaneously, before they turned their astonished gazes towards each other. For a moment, the two boys stared each other down, wondering why neither was revealing the other's secrets. They tried to find an answer through the silence, through the suspicions…and then, just like that, they found themselves smiling.

There was no reason to smile. Yet they did anyway.

Suddenly, there was a loud patter of feet, and Benji rushed into the room, red-faced and grinning as he carried a large plate of cookies.

Jimmy's smile faded.

"Jim!" Benji greeted, looking as if he had won a Nobel Prize. "We did it! We beat Peace Onmite! We beat…Peace…" Benji's large brown eyes locked onto Adrian's widening dark ones, and the small boy literally froze where he stood.

_Oh no…_

"Shortman." Adrian made a move to get out of bed, but Gord held him down, whispering that he had to rest. Adrian ignored him, and continued to stare at Benji. "Shortman…"

Benji took a step back, the same horrified look still etched onto his face. "No," he whispered. "No…"

"You…little…BASTARD!" Adrian lunged out of the bed, crashing onto the floor when the sheets tangled around his legs. Flailing on the floor wildly, Adrian looked up at Benji with a look of absolute rage on his face, and tried to grab the little boy with a white-knuckled hand. "You son-of-a-bitch! I'll MURDER you for what you and your treacherous father did!"

Benji screamed, and tossed the plate of cookies aside as he bolted out of the room. Adrian shoved Gord aside and tried to run after the child, but his injured ankle prevented him from getting any further. "SHORTMAN!" he shrieked. "GET BACK HERE _NOW_!"

Horrified at what he was seeing, Jimmy ran out of the room as well, ignoring the increasing pain in his chest as he caught up to Benji outside the hospital. He quickly grabbed Benji's arm, and held it tightly as the child tried frantically to escape. "Ben!" he cried, shaking the boy slightly. "What the hell is going on? No more secrets! Tell me what you did to Adrian!"

"Jim, just let me go!" Benji begged, his eyes wide with fright. "This doesn't have anything to do with you!"

"As of now, it has _everything_ to do with me! Tell me what's going on!"

"Leave me alone!"

"Benji?"

Both Jimmy and Benji looked up at the speaker, but only Jimmy's jaw hit the floor. Parked on the street on a black-and-blue motorcycle, dressed in full cycling gear, was Meela Shortman. She pulled up the visor of her motorcycle helmet, and gave Jimmy a shocked stare. "Jimmy! What are you doing out of bed? I thought you were hurt badly! Did you get the cookies I brought for you?"

"Meela," Jimmy began, "what's going on—"

"SHORTMAN! COME BACK HERE!"

Everyone looked up, and they saw Adrian sticking his head out the window, with Gord and Petey trying effortlessly to get him back inside. Benji paled, and said to the very confused woman, "Meela…Adrian knows I'm here!"

"What?" Meela's blue eyes grew large with shock. "What about…"

"No!" Benji shook his head. "Just me! But we have to get out before he sees you!"

Meela nodded, and quickly threw a helmet to Benji. "Come on…we're going back to the school _now_."

"Wait!" Jimmy yelled, frustration reaching its peak. "Would you guys just tell me why you're running from that pussy Prep? It would make things MUCH easier for me!"

"Sorry Jimmy," Meela said softly, as Benji sat behind her on the motorcycle and gripped her around the waist. "It's personal." With that, she kicked the bike into gear and drove off, leaving Jimmy alone.

"SHORTMAN!" Adrian screamed in the distance. "TELL ME WHERE THEY ARE! _TELL ME WHERE THEY ARE!_"

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**Read and review for more, meh dears. Seriously. Please do.**


	13. Observation 13 'Benji': Insecurity

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: It is now obvious to me that Adrian is becoming a fan favorite, primarily because of his interactions with Gord. 'Tis an interesting observation. Anyway…here's a Benji POV drabble. Ha, didn't expect one so soon, did you? It's more of a "thought-provoking drabble" than anything else. Also, it brings back something from Observation Nine.

Please remember that these are DRABBLES. Meaning, there's always a deeper meaning behind each observation I post. These are not chapters of a story. Rather, I'm writing them as separate stories that are linked to one another.

The poem is from a drama I've watched on AZN, called "My Lovely Sam-Soon." Very funny show.

**Observation Thirteen (Benji): Insecurity**

_As of now, it has everything to do with me._

It's in the little things that Jimmy says which remind me just how layered and insecure he is. Which aren't actually little at all, not when it comes to someone like James Hopkins; not when it comes to revealing something as personal and fragile as his own insecurities.

After all, "Less is more."

I find it hilarious that this little saying works in someone as overbearing as Jimmy. Yet, at the same time, it makes perfect sense. Jimmy's only human, and I know all about being human and how much of a disease it is. I have the scars and the medical record to prove it. The only difference between us is that I'm just better at seeming healthier than I really am, whereas everybody knows that Jimmy isn't healthy.

Granted, no one in this damn school is healthy—but as he's the "King" of Bullworth Academy, he stands out much more than the average student. He kisses one girl, and the next day, the cheerleaders are gossiping the event amongst themselves. But even if he wasn't the infamous enforcer of peace, people only have to notice his inability to trust people, his tendencies towards violence, and his inability to have stable relationships to see for themselves that he isn't normal.

Jimmy knows this. He _hides_ behind it.

I wish that a man can be an island. It would make life _that_ much easier to bear. But the thing is, it isn't possible. No man can be an island, just as no wall is unbreakable, just as no shell is impenetrable. No one—I mean _no one_—can exist without forming some type of deep-rooted bond to another person, no matter how anti-social he tries to be. Gary Smith and Peter Kowalski are living examples of this.

When Jimmy says those little (gigantic) things like _as of now, it has everything to do with me, _he's smashing his own walls down, right in front of me.

And he doesn't even realize that he's doing it.

* * *

Sometimes, I can't stand his insecurities because I have too many of my own.

I'm not gonna bitch about the past. The past is the past, and you can't look back because bad memories are a fucking black hole. Once you get too close, you'll get sucked in and then you'll never be able to escape from them.

But it's so hard. To not remember, I mean. Because everywhere I look, I see traces of unhappy memories, and once I start thinking those bad thoughts, I can't stop. One after another, they barrel down in front of my eyes, replaying themselves over and over again. They torment my psyche relentlessly until Pedro's literally slapping me out of my dazed state, screaming his head off with worry.

Having Adrian around only made matters worse. I don't think I've smiled much in the last few weeks. The asshole's turned almost all of the Preps against me using my poor financial status (which wasn't so hard, as most of them hated me anyway), except for Darcy and maybe Gord.

Apparently, both of them find me "too cute a pauper" to hate.

However, he never physically threatened me again. Jimmy's apparently beaten him twice after the mishap at the hospital, and now Jim has the Aquaberry bastard under his thumb. That's a load off my mind, thank god.

Adrian said nothing about our past to the Preps. For that, I thank him.

* * *

Jimmy doesn't like the stunt I pulled between the Nerds and the Jocks. Sadly, I'm not too happy with the results either.

With the Jocks busy with actually performing their physical best in the water, I had managed to convince some of the Nerds to help me secure the pool building from Peace Onmite attacks. That mean having a few Nerds perform some "round the clock" guarding, while others planted small, waterproof cameras all around the pool building, in the locker rooms, and even in the pool itself. Drinks were brought in individual bottles, not in a large, vulnerable cooler, and everyone was on guard.

While the Nerds were hapless at guard duty, the cameras were a great help. Gloria and Thad kept a close look at the recordings with the small, portable television they brought to the swim meet, and they were able to convince the referee (who was NOT crooked, thank god) to disqualify several of the Peace Onmite boys for illegal movements in the pool.

Incidentally, that same referee was found in the hospital the next day. Gang beating, the news said.

With the disqualifications, combined with the stellar performance of the Bullworth Boys' Swim Team (which I was now a part of), we managed to win by a landslide.

And finally, with the Nerds cheering for the Jocks, I was happy. I thought I had managed to bring everyone together.

I was dead wrong.

"You gotta choose, Benjamin," Gloria said to me a few days after the meet. "Once is all right, but to permanently join? That's ridiculous!"

"What's ridiculous?" Dan hissed at her, one of his hands painfully clutching at my shoulder. "Shortman's a Jock now, end of story! He's not gonna hang around with you weirdoes any more!"

"Wait a minute!" I cried. "I need to keep my grades up to keep my scholarship, you know! If I get lower than an A minus for my average, I'll get kicked out!"

Gloria stared at me in triumph. "Aha! The scholar defeats the athlete once again!"

"No!" I yelled. "I still want to be on the swim team!"

"HA!" Dan gave Gloria a vicious grin. "You heard Shortman! He wants to be a Jock, not a Nerd!"

"NOOOO!" I screamed, startling both Gloria and Dan into silence. Huffing and panting from the effort used to scream, I glared at both of them angrily. "Listen, I want both good grades and a chance to be on an athletic team. Why can't I have both?"

Silence. Then…

"YOU CAN'T BE BOTH!" they bellowed simultaneously. "You can only be one or the other! Nothing else! Only an intellectual can be a Nerd, and only an athlete can be a Jock! It's an unwritten rule, but it's still a rule! HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

I didn't answer either of them. I simply turned tail and ran as fast as I could towards the Boys' Dorm, locking the door behind me as soon as I got inside my room.

So much for being optimistic about my future.

* * *

Jimmy and I have this unofficial tradition, which consists of eating, drinking, and lying about like stuffed pigs.

This little tradition of ours would always earn us strange looks from the other boys. I've heard comments of pedophilia and perversity from some of the passersby, and Constantinos even tried to take a picture of us together like that…until Jimmy caught him and stuffed the poor Grecian in a nearby trash can.

I ignore most of them. When Jimmy and I are in that stuffed, lazy state, we're actually happy for once. Genuinely, true-as-blue, over-the-hills happy. No one has the right to take that feeling away from us.

However, I can't shake off the looks that Peter and Gary send in our direction.

What bothers me is that both Peter and Gary are also insecure individuals. But Peter is easy enough to figure out—he likes Jimmy. And when I say likes, I mean _loves_. Seeing me and Jim together like that, when he couldn't even get Jimmy to stop viewing him as a dork…well, I'd say the pink fruit's a little jealous.

Pfft. What's to be jealous about? I'm not gay. And even if I was, I could do better than Jimmy.

As for Gary…well, most of the time, I try not to look at him. He scares the living shit out of me, and every time I have to look into his cold brown eyes, I end up shivering and curling against Jimmy's warm back.

* * *

The best way to forget about one's shortcomings is to pig out on four bowls of cherry Jell-O, six cans of Beam Cola, and a few (dozen) boxes of pepperoni and mushroom pizza while watching _The Matrix _on the television at a sublevel volume.

As I've stated before, it's become a sort of tradition between me and Jimmy. Food has effectively tied me to this rogue king of the school and, to my astonishment, I found myself getting more and more attached to him.

We've grown comfortable with one another to the point where we're both lying on the couch lazily, with a can of Beam Cola balanced on our bulging stomachs as we both pushed and shoved each other for leg room. Jimmy usually wins our push-and-shove bouts, and he would always hog eighty percent of the couch while I ended up trying to make do with my measly twenty percent.

_Bastard_. He's a bastard, and I always tell him so.

But he likes it when I do that. He likes it a lot.

It's during these moments that I find myself _liking_ Jimmy's insecurity. It almost seems like there's a sort of…desperation beneath his kinder actions. Like he's insecure about the whole thing between him and me, but he doesn't want to let go of whatever we have because he _likes_ it and is desperate to keep it.

That's why he doesn't push me too much to tell him why I'm afraid of Adrian. Rather, he prods me for information, whereas if it had been anyone else, he would have beaten the info out of the poor person.

"You know," he said, after his fourth slice of pizza, "I can grind Adrian's face in the floor whenever I want to. I've proven to that little snot that I'm better than him physically. All you have to do is give me the word, and I'll smack him senseless."

I swallowed the spoonful of cherry Jell-O in my mouth. "S'okay," I replied quietly. "I can handle it."

"No you can't. You think I don't remember how fucking scared you were after that hospital visit?"

"He caught me by surprise. And in my defense, I was full of adrenaline from just winning the swim meet, so I was in a vulnerable state at the time, and my mind wasn't quite working at full capacity. He won't touch me."

"Won't—won't TOUCH you? Adrian looked like he was going to RIP you limb from limb!"

"Don't be ridiculous," I said as-a-matter-of-factly. "He'd go to jail for murder. The Aquaberry family name would be tainted, and then they'd disown him. He's never risk his inheritance like that. He's not THAT stupid."

Jimmy gave me a deadpanned look. "You know _way_ too much about the Aquaberry family for a normal person. What'd you do? Steal one of their famous ashtrays, or something?"

"No," I said, my voice growing softer by the minute. "We didn't steal an object from them."

"Then what did you do?"

I sighed, and rubbed my temples. "Jim, I don't want to talk about it. I promise, he's not going to hurt me."

Jimmy wasn't satisfied. "He looked like he wanted to hurt you above everything else last time."

"I promise, he won't. He'd never risk me getting hurt."

"How do you know?"

I spoke quietly, knowing that Jimmy would hate the answer. "It's personal."

Unfortunately, I underestimated Jimmy's reaction. He didn't just hate the answer, he _loathed_ it. In fact, he loathed it so much that he gave me a disgusted look, swung his legs off the couch, and got up to leave, heading straight for the dormitory exit.

Wait a minute. He wasn't really leaving…was he?

"Jim!" I yelled out, surprising not only him, but myself. I saw him turn back to me, his eyes questioning and confused, his hand only an inch away from the dormitory doors.

It was make or break. What I said would affect his view of me forever. Essentially, I had the chance to push him out of my life with one word, to get away from him and start again in my own little world. I didn't have to call him back. I could have ended everything right here.

"Don't go," I said softly.

He stayed silent, but his eyes said it all. _Tell me._

"I can't, Jim. For god's sake, I just _can't_. This isn't just my problem. It's my whole family that's in trouble. You can't fix it for me. No one can…" I faltered off, lowering my eyes to the floor.

At that moment, I thought Jimmy was going to leave. No wait, he _was_ going to leave. I still couldn't tell him what the hell was the matter with me, and I could see that it was starting to strain him, just like I was feeling my own strain from all the shit that was falling on me.

I wouldn't have blamed him if he left, just to let you know. But he didn't leave. Instead, he slowly came back, sitting next to me while staring down at the floor, which was littered with empty pizza boxes.

For a while, we said nothing. We _couldn't_—neither of us knew what to do in a shaky situation like this.

And then, just like that, I spoke without warning. "We're okay…right?"

Jimmy blinked. "What?"

"We're _okay_, right?" I repeated, stronger this time.

There was a moment of silence. I remembered when Jim asked me the same question. I had answered it in a lighthearted manner, more or less. But now…there was a sort of heavy tension that threatened to break everything.

For a moment, I almost thought I could hear the walls cracking, breaking, crashing down around me.

I waited.

At last, he answered. "Yeah. We're okay."

We didn't say anything else that entire evening.

* * *

Insecurity is a powerful thing. It's what draws Petey to Gary, it's what draws me and Gary to Jimmy, and it's what's currently drawing me and Jimmy to my mother.

He doesn't know it yet, but I can see it. He's been popping into my room more and more as of late, and while we talk and laugh at Adrian's expense, I can occasionally see his eyes moving to the picture I have on my bed, the one of me and Meela.

Occasionally, however, means that he sneaks ten looks every hour or so.

Maybe I'm being paranoid. I mean, anyone who met Meela would be drawn to her. Not only is she an insecurity magnet, but she's also the most wonderful woman in the world, who just happens to be working the two worst jobs known to mankind. Of course Jimmy would be curious about her.

But I can't risk anyone taking Meela away from me. Curiosity is what caused my father to fall in love with that beautiful woman, and out of that sheer curiosity, we've all earned the wrath of the Aquaberry family.

Jimmy was becoming too curious for my tastes. I told him that, if he was horny, to go fuck Mandy (his new girlfriend...Jimmy's such a man-slut) or Peter. "Keep your eyes off Meela," I snapped at him in an irritated voice.

His only response to that was, "What the hell is wrong with you? I don't _like_ your mother! She's your _mother_, for crying out loud! And she's too skinny and tall for my tastes...and whad'ya mean, Petey? Pete's not gay..."

That little bit was something I found hilarious. Petey's so fruity, he could cure scurvy...

But always, Jimmy's eyes would go back to that picture.

I said nothing. Let him think what he wanted. As long as he doesn't overstep on my insecurities again, I'm happy.

* * *

Meela knows me too well.

Whenever thoughts of the darkest sort enter my head, and I think to myself that I just can't take it anymore, she would always be there to wrap her arms firmly around me. No matter how tired she was, no matter how much she too, wanted to break down and cry, she would always hold me close, and whisper into my ear,

"_Dance like no one's watching,_

_Sing like no one's listening,_

_Work like you don't need the money,_

_Love like you've never been hurt before,_

_Live like there's no tomorrow."_

I'd calm down, and I'd push all those evil thoughts out of my mind temporarily.

* * *

I'm falling and screaming and crying for my mother because I didn't want to die _I didn't want to die_ I DIDN'T WANT TO DIE—MEELA WHERE ARE YOU?!

And then I wake up in the middle of the night, drenched in cold sweat. I never scream when I wake up. Rather, my body jerks unnaturally.

During times of stress, I have vivid dreams, and during these dreams, I see vibrant, disturbing colors, usually bright red or a dark, disturbing black. Few of them were pretty. None of them were comforting.

I did that once during "Tradition Night." I fell asleep in the middle of the movie, and I had dreamed those horrible dreams. My body jerked so much that Jimmy literally smacked the living shit out of me until I woke up, and he had screamed at me until his face turned blue.

"Jesus, Ben!" he yelled. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

I slowly wiped the sweat off my brow, and kept my eyes down. "I-it's nothing," I said shakily. "J-just a bad dream."

If I hadn't felt like crap, I would have laughed at Jimmy's look of utter disbelief.

"That's it?" he asked incredulously.

It's always in the little (gigantic) things that Jimmy says.

I found the strength to smile, albeit wearily. "That's it."

You can imagine the look of relief that swept across his face. I knew how bad my bodily jerks can get. He probably thought I was dying, or something. But in some ways, I'm surprised that Jimmy acted the way he did. He usually beat up other students until they had to be hospitalized, and would barely bat an eye. Whenever he found himself in a puzzling situation, he'd _demand_ answers.

But this…maybe he's too confused within himself to be able to ask questions yet. Or maybe he's too insecure, as he was still trying to solve the puzzle of myself and Adrian.

And then, out of the blue, he told me that Adrian had shown him some pictures of his family, the Aquaberry family. The twins, Angelina and Andrew, the parents, Arthur and Anna, and the supermodel sister, Amelia ("The girl of a bazilion hair colors," Jimmy laughed) who had spent the last six years working in the Amazon rainforest.

The dreams returned that same night, and in the morning, I found myself too sick to get out of bed.

* * *

**As you can see, Benji's not a healthy boy. Sorry to break the bubble for you guys.**

**Read and review.**


	14. Observation 14: Parts of a Whole

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: Wow. Last drabble totally bombed…and I really liked it too. (Sobs in corner)

And to Devinedesires (Memai! Hi!), there's a slight reference to your character Roxy's dressing style. Please don't be mad! It's just part of a conversation!

**Observation Fourteen: Parts of a Whole**

"Your parents pissed off the Aquaberry family somehow, didn't they?" Jimmy asked casually.

Benji lifted his flushed, fevered face towards Jimmy and groaned. "Jim, do we have to do this now? I don't have the wind for this. I just threw up on Pedro's ant farm, for crying out loud…"

"Ew. Now listen," Jimmy said, trying very hard not to notice the vomit-filled glass that was now swimming with dead ants, "I'm just worried, okay? Maybe you should just tell Adrian where your parents are…"

Suddenly, the wheat-haired boy looked up at Jimmy angrily; his little face red with both illness and fury. "Jim, if you so much as even _think_ about telling that rich bastard where Meela is, I swear, I'll—I'll cook up some elaborate revenge that'll leave you so emotionally traumatized that you'll have to be shut up in an asylum!" Benji then collapsed back onto his bed, coughing and breathing weakly as he lay back, exhausted.

…_wow. That was…kinda pathetic._

Jimmy stared quietly at the small boy for a moment, before he sighed and rested a hand on Benji's hot, sweaty forehead. "Ben, I don't know what's so horrible that both you and Adrian won't talk about it, but maybe you really should let him meet your parents. I mean, if all he wants is to meet them—"

"I said NO!" Benji screamed, startling Jimmy so much that the older boy nearly jumped out of his skin. "Leave Meela out of this! Stay away from her, damn you! Stay out—stay out—" The small boy then began to cough so much that he ended up spitting up thick, yellowy phlegm into a nearby tissue. Jimmy backed away, both horrified and disgusted at the same time.

"Benji!" Pedro rushed into the room, his arms full of damp cloths and cough medicine. "I just got back from Nurse MacRae, and she said to take these—HEY! What happened to my ant farm?!"

----------

Adrian glanced up at Jimmy from his overly lavished bed. "The child is sick?"

"Yes," Jimmy spat angrily. "Ben's sick, and a lot of it has to do with you. Stress-related illness or some shit like that." Jimmy's eyes narrowed into slits when he saw the look of grim satisfaction on the young Prep's face, and it took all of his self control to _not_ beat Adrian into a pulp. "Wipe that damn smile off your fucking face, or I'll rip it off for you."

"Oh, Hopkins! Do settle down!" Adrian sat on his bed as he pulled on a pair of black jeans. "My vendetta with Shortman is a private matter, but if you _did_ know all the facts, you'd understand why I was smiling. I'd say that karma has finally caught up to the little beggar…"

Jimmy grabbed Adrian by the collar and yanked him up until they were both standing face-to-face. "One more insult about Ben," Jimmy hissed, "and I swear I'll send you back to the hospital looking so disfigured, that not even plastic surgery can fix your damn face!"

"Fuck off!" Adrian shoved Jimmy off of him, and glared at the older boy with hostile eyes. Yanking on his expensive black leather jacket, the dark-haired Prep growled, "For your information, Shortman and his father deserves every insult known to mankind! By god, you can't protect him forever, Hopkins! I'll find him alone one of these days, and when I do, I will finally be able to bring back honor to the Aquaberry name!"

Jimmy snorted, which dampened Adrian's grandeur. "And should you ever be successful with that, know that I'll be there to pummel your face into the ground for hurting Ben."

"Pfft." Adrian waved a hand in the air in dismissal. "Don't flatter the disgusting child. I don't have any intention of laying a finger on him. All I want from him is the whereabouts of his father and the woman who lives with them. Nothing more."

"Why would you want to know that? And the woman who lives with them is called a _mother_, retard."

At this, Adrian's eye twitched ever so slightly, but his face remained eerily passive. "I'm sorry, Hopkins," Adrian apologized coolly, slipping on his brown wig and dark sunglasses. "I don't wish to discuss this any further. It's a personal matter. I thought you'd have understood by now."

With that, _Ace_ walked towards the window in his room and slid out of Harrington House. Despite his room being two stories high, the disguised Prep managed to safely make it down undetected with the use of an overhanging tree branch, and the cover of falling autumn leaves.

----------

"I don't understand him," Jimmy muttered to Benji.

The wheat-haired boy rolled over on his bed, and looked up at Jimmy with tired eyes. "What's to understand?" Benji murmured. "Adrian's a sick bastard, plain and simple. No use trying to convince yourself otherwise…"

"I understand the bastard part. It's the split personality part that's bothering me."

"How so?"

"Well…" Jimmy scratched the back of his head uncertainly. "I really don't see his need to be both Ace _and_ Adrian. If he wanted to be a trendsetter, why not reveal from the start that he likes bikes? Why the secret Greaser getup?"

Benji sighed, and forced himself into a sitting position on his messy white bed. "You have to understand," the small boy explained wearily to Jimmy, "that this double life is actually _part_ of who Adrian is. He can't fully exist without acting all macho and Greaser-ish from time to time, just as he can't completely give up being the whorish son of a famous fashion company. It's who he is, point blank."

"If he likes fixing bikes so much," Jimmy complained, still not satisfied, "then why not just parade around in both an Aquaberry outfit _and_ a leather jacket? That'll certainly get the message across that he's a Greasy Prep."

"First off, _ew_." Benji made a face at the ill-worded title. "I think calling him a Preppie Greaser would be better for Adrian."

"No…Greasy Prep. It sounds cooler."

"And more disgusting! I'm starting to feel _sicker_, thanks to you!"

"Okay, forget it!" Jimmy said hastily, noting that Benji was indeed starting to turn green. "He's a Preppie Greaser! Just don't barf on me!"

Too late. "_Urp._"

"Oh, gross…"

Benji wiped his mouth with the corner of his sleeve, and swallowed back the remnants of the bitter tasting bile. "Ugh…anyway…Adrian revealing that he likes mechanical engineering while being one of the three heirs of the Aquaberry Empire would be the equivalent to committing suicide."

"How so?" Jimmy asked warily, stepping away from the vile-colored puddle of vomit on the floor. "And weren't there four Aquaberry brats?"

"The Preps," Benji went on, ignoring Jimmy's observation, "will most definitely cast him out of their social circle, and his reputation will forever be tainted." Benji leaned back against the pillows, and crossed his arms. "Believe me, Jim…he's risking his inheritance by showing this much interest in bikes. Making the Aquaberry Cruiser was risky enough, even if he did lie and say that he didn't design it."

Jimmy blinked, before he sighed and sat on the end of Benji's bed. "I guess you're right. It'd be like what you tried to do with the Nerds and Jocks."

"Hey!" Benji cried, looking pale and outraged. "That's a completely different story, Jim!"

"Uh-huh. Whatever."

"I'm serious, you asshole! I did it for the greater good!"

"Uh-huh. Then why are the Nerds and Jocks still arguing over whether you're a Jock or a Nerd? I've had to break up five fights in the last couple of days, thanks to you. And two of them involved Dan Wilson and Thad Carlson, along with Gloria, Lance, and Bo Jackson."

Benji's face became pallid at these words. Slowly, the child pulled the covers over his head, and disappeared under several sheets of whiteness.

----------

Jimmy leaned against the wall of the gas station, grinning at _Ace_ as he pumped gas into the waiting woman's vehicle. "So…this is your part time job, eh?"

"Hopkins, shut it," Ace grumbled. His rough, gravelly voice was more strained than usual, and he kept sneaking looks over at Peanut, who in turn was talking to two very familiar looking mechanics.

"Hey Johnny! Norton!" Jimmy greeted loudly, waving his hand at the oil covered ex-Greasers, both of whom had just poked their heads out from under the hood of the car. "Been good since you guys left the academy?"

"Yo!" Johnny gave Jimmy a grin, one that was mirrored by Norton. "Everything's been great, kid! Life ain't never been better!"

Ace looked surprised at this exchange of greetings. "They know each other?" the disguised Prep asked Peanut, who merely laughed in return.

"Jim's always been a cool guy with us," Peanut explained. "He once saved Johnny from the wacky shack over at Blue Skies."

"Wacky...shack…?" Ace repeated slowly, not entirely familiar with the town's geography as of yet.

"The Happy Volts Asylum, you lump! I told you, it's where that creep Gary Smith went off to after he tried to have everybody kill each other."

"Oh!"

"Man," Peanut swore, running a hand through his brown hair. "I hate that place. Johnny had to spend a few nights there because he went a little nuts over Lola at the time. Some smart mouth townies said that they slept with her, and Johnny chased after them with a bat…"

"Which was partially true," Jimmy muttered under his breath. "Lola _did_ sleep with one of them, and Johnny did go after them with a blunt object…" He purposely neglected to mention that the "blunt object" was actually Norton's sledgehammer.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Johnny strode over to Peanut and Ace, and slapped the two upside the head with grease-covered hands. "No talking about Lola like she's some kind of slut! That's my woman you're mouthin' off!"

"I wasn't mouthin' off no one!" Peanut snapped, rubbing the spot where Johnny had struck him. "I was just explaining to Ace here about what happened when you got locked up!"

"It's an interestin' story, Johnny," Ace agreed.

If Peanut thought that that would calm Johnny down, he was sorely mistaken. "Man, why d'ya have to bring up ancient history?" Johnny complained. "I got a better head on my shoulders now, and so does Lola, now that she's workin' at the Laser Lounge!"

"Laser Lounge?" Jimmy cocked his head to the side in interest. "What's that?"

"It's this new bar that opened up," Johnny explained, while Peanut shook his head. "Lola's one of the waitresses, and she's a damn good one, I'll tell you that! She's improving herself, unlike what some people think—" here, Johnny threw a dirty look at Peanut "—and I've been trying to better myself up for her too. I've been taking those anger management classes, since I gotta be calmer now that this new bike company's hiring new employees!"

"New bike company?"

"Yeah…Ace here told me about it." Johnny clapped Ace hard on the shoulder, which resulted in the disguised Prep squeaking softly from the surprising amount of force used. "This new big shot's trying to build bikes that are better than the BMX models. He's even offering a chance for guys like me to take college classes while we work!"

"Opportunities like these don't come around very often," Norton observed. "Especially not for guys like us. Not when those trust fund fairies are knocking the lower classes down every step of the way."

Jimmy noticed that Ace looked a bit uncomfortable at this statement. "Oh, come on, man!" the disguised Prep protested in his fake, rough voice. "Things ain't _that_ bad, now is it?"

Johnny, Norton, and Peanut all raised their brows at Ace. Then, they laughed. "You're kidding, right?" Norton joked, elbowing Ace in the ribs. "You're just making a Prep joke, right?"

"Um…yeah…ow." Ace rubbed the area where Norton had elbowed him, and grinned uneasily. "Just a joke…right." With that, he retreated back to the gas pumps, where a line of people now waited impatiently to have their cars refueled.

Jimmy clicked a judgmental tongue at Ace's retreating back. The poor kid didn't have a clue to the nightmares he would face if anyone ever found out he was a Prep.

_Well, the kid's just gonna have to learn the hard way._

He was about to leave when he noticed a familiar black-and-blue motorcycle that was in Norton's station. Jimmy blinked, before he approached the former black Greaser. "Hey, Norton?"

"Hmm?" Norton looked up from car hood that he and Johnny were under. "What's up?"

"Where'd you get that bike?"

"Oh, this?" Norton grinned. "Cute little thing, isn't it? A 350 model. Pretty modest in terms of bikes these days, and lighter than most. Kinda old fashioned for my tastes, but it's in pretty good condition! Meela's done the world of bikers proud, she has!"

"Meela?!" Jimmy looked hurriedly at Ace, but he was on the other side of the gas station, quickly pumping gas into the cars of less-than-pleased customers. Jimmy sighed with relief, before he turned his attention back to the curious Norton. "Why'd she bring it here? Last time I saw her—"

"Oh, you know Meela?" Johnny was also interested now. "She's a nice woman, isn't she? She'd be pretty if she ate a little more. Looks like a scarecrow half the time…"

_Tell me about it_, Jimmy thought, rolling his eyes at the memory of the tall, skinny woman.

"She brought her bike in a little while ago," Johnny continued. "Said she broke it when she tried to get her kid back to Bullworth in a hurry. She's okay, but her bike…well, _something_ broke."

Norton shook his head. "Johnny, Edgar, and I've been giving her rides to work. The lady's always tired, and she doesn't even look old enough to have a kid. Life sure does suck sometimes…"

Jimmy nodded slowly, but his mind was suddenly spinning with ideas. If he played his cards correctly, he might get an answer to Benji and Adrian's hostility towards one another… "Does she live nearby?"

"Eh?" Johnny blinked, before he sighed. "She lives in Blue Skies. But she comes into town at night to work in the Laser Lounge with Lola. Meela works later, though…you might find her there now. I have to pick up Lola anyway. Why'd you ask?"

And here, Jimmy grimaced as he used a phrase said to him many, many times. "It's…_personal_."

----------

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	15. Observation 15: The Laser Lounge

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: Many of the parts of this drabble will be in Meela's point of view, but will switch back and forth to Jimmy's POV. I did this because I felt that it gave the story more…impact.

With the exception of the two reviewers, the last chapter also bombed. Oh well. (sighs)

**Observation Fifteen (Jimmy and Meela): The Laser Lounge**

_The flower in the vase smiles, but it can no longer laugh._

-------------

The cigarette smoke made Meela's eyes burn, just like it did every working night of her life, just like it had the day when she learned how expensive Miles's medication actually was, and that she would have to pay for it all by herself without any help from the damn insurance company.

Randy Conklin turned up the volume of the stereo to full volume, an act she didn't like one bit. Not only did the music blast at her eardrums until she was half deaf, but the only relief she found from the obnoxious noise was the loud, rowdy voices of the drunken customers of the bar.

Needless to say, this only added to her stress and fatigue.

The sound of empty bottles, the smell of cheap beer and rancid sweat, the skimpy outfit and fake blonde wig she was forced to wear when working here…it was one tiny step from all she could take. Now and then she'd get a break—someone would cause a fight in the bar, and then Edgar the bouncer would have to come in and throw the uncouth gentlemen out of the building.

The sudden disorder distracted her, made her forget for a moment who and where she was, and indirectly helped her to keep her wilting sanity. It had only been a few months since she started working in the Laser Lounge _and_ the 57¢ Store, and every day—every _night_—seemed harder and longer than the day and night before.

Sometimes she'd call Loretta at 1 A.M., waking the old woman out of a sound sleep, and Loretta would always say, "Baby Girl, I'm losing my precious beauty rest! Quit that damn job!" But that was easy for Loretta to say, because where the hell was Meela suppose to find another one?

She envied Edgar, that strong, silly boy. Fighting was in his blood, something that definitely _wasn't_ in hers. She wished she knew his abilities, his maneuvers, and his sense of physical timing, because then she'd know just what to do when she served that loud, obnoxious redneck who sat right near the front of the bar.

His name was Michael Burton, or something like that. Every time she passed by his table, he leaned out to pat her firmly on the butt, and for a split second she wanted to crack him soundly across the mouth with the back of her hand, letting that desperate sense of wonderful satisfaction spread through her body.

But that wasn't possible. Bastard that he was, he gave her the biggest tips, and she needed those tips. So she let him fondle her, all the while darting her gaze towards the clock, hoping each time that the hands were closer to 2 A.M., and that she could go home and sleep for a few precious hours.

Charlotte had just entered the Laser Lounge for her shift, and young girl gave Meela a grin before she disappeared to the back room to change into her waitress outfit. Meela barely managed to give the girl a returning smile, but somehow she managed to do so before Charlotte disappeared behind the doors.

Meela hated to work with Charlotte. Though the girl was very nice, very helpful, and very sweet, she was not attractive. Charlotte was a big, horsey girl, built funny, who looked as if her flesh had been strapped to her body to keep it from falling off. None of the men wanted to pinch _her_, and that left more insult for Meela to duck and bear.

Years ago, maybe then. "Options" had been a viable word in the past, but now there was Benji to think about. Suicide, homicide, telling the boss to saunter off, they were all off the menu for years, maybe forever. Still, she could have gotten by on one job had it not been for Miles.

And if one more time she had to scream to be heard over the noise, if one more time she had to ask an order to be screamed again, only to hear it no better than before, well…she didn't know what she would do.

She _wanted_ to know what she would do. But she already knew the answer.

There was nothing.

-------------

_Appearances are very often deceiving._

-------------

It hadn't been too hard to get into the Laser Lounge. Despite the fact that he had to be twenty-one years of age to enter, Edgar had let him in through the back door after Jimmy had slipped a couple of tens into the Townie's hand.

Upon entering, a wave of cigarette smoke had smacked him right in the face, and Jimmy spent a good while coughing and gasping, trying to find a place where the secondhand smoke _wouldn't_ destroy his lungs in the course of five minutes.

"You okay?" Edgar asked, looking at the younger boy worriedly as Jimmy tried to get his breathing under control. "Maybe we should go back outside…"

"Blah! No!" Jimmy waved the smoke away from his face, and finally managed to suppress his coughs. "I'm okay Edgar. Really, I am. I just need to talk to Meela for a quick second."

"Meela?" The Townie leader's eyes brightened for a moment, before he frowned, his gaze darkening with…was that _jealousy_? "Why d'ya need to speak to her? You know her, or something?"

"Um…" Jimmy backed away from Edgar's glare, unprepared for the sudden wave of hostility that the Townie leader had suddenly unleashed. "I kinda know her…I know her kid better, actually, and—"

"Oh! You mean Benji, right? Man!" Edgar laughed, the dark features instantly disappearing from his face. "She talks about that shrimp _all_ the time! Benji this, Benji that…she really loves that kid, you know?"

_It's not that hard to believe. _"Uh-huh. So…where exactly is she?" Jimmy looked around, unable to spot any women with black hair and blue eyes. "I mean, these _are_ her working hours, right?"

"Yeah. She's over there, in the blonde wig."

"Oh, okay—wait a minute! Blonde?!" Jimmy whirled around, and his jaw dropped when he saw a tall, painfully skinny, skimpily dressed woman serving the group of drunken men in the corner. Though the hair on her head was a bright canary blonde, he saw the dark blue of the woman's eyes, along with the soft smile on the woman's face. "Meela?" he cried out, and almost immediately, the woman turned to his direction.

He wished he could have been more tactful about his entrance. The smile vanished from Meela's face, and a dark, shamed blush spread through the older woman's cheeks.

-------------

_To everything there is a reason, and a purpose._

-------------

Despite the fact that there was a nightly rush of customers and that it was probably the worst timing in the world, Meela took a break. She sidling up behind Charlotte as she dragged Jimmy to a corner of the room, swerving to the side to avoid Burton's fifteenth attempt at patting her behind.

Jimmy watched her as she did all this, and she could almost hear the inner mechanisms of his mind spinning rapidly as he took all this in, evaluating her as he made his final judgment.

She hoped for a favorable verdict.

"I never expected you to be here," Meela said finally, as she sat down on a clean, comfortable table. "You're a bit underage, you know. Not that I'll report you or anything…" As the boy took a seat next to her, she placed a can of Beam Cola and a liverwurst sandwich next to him, and smiled when Jimmy reached into his pocket for his wallet. "Forget it, darling. It's on me."

She watched him pause, his mind spinning at top speed as he tried to figure out what to do next. Then, before she could say anything, he took out three dollars. "A tip then," Jimmy said quietly, and he pushed the bills towards her.

_Well, well, well. Saint Jimmy, you are full of surprises, aren't you? Just like Benji said…_

"What brings you here?" she asked, her lips still plastered into a smile. "Is everything alright at school? Is my Benji okay?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Jimmy mumbled, as he took a tentative bite of his sandwich. Meela watched as his eyes lit up for a moment, before he took another bite, a larger one than before. "Mmm! Who made this?"

"Morty. He's our cook. The best in Bullworth, they say."

Jimmy was almost finished with his sandwich, leaving Meela somewhat amazed at his apparently large appetite. Didn't the school feed them properly? "Man, I wish Morty would—would cook for us at the academy," Jimmy muttered, trying to talk and swallow at the same time. "This sandwich beats Edna's cooking any day!"

"Well, that's one of the perks of working here," Meela said, laughing uneasily. "The good food is worth the employment, even if the customers _are_ a little—" she winced as one of the men hooted at Bonnie, a beautiful brunette that had just come in for her night shift "—_rambunctious_."

Jimmy blinked. "Ram-what?"

"Pigheaded," Meela corrected, opting for an easier word. She sighed and fixed the blonde wig on her head, which had slowly been slipping down her forehead.

Jimmy, who was now finished with his sandwich, pointed to the yellow appendage with a crumb-covered finger and asked tactlessly, "What's up with the getup?"

"E-excuse me?"

"You know…the hair. The clothes. Working here." Meela noticed that Jimmy's eyes were lowering to her small breasts, and she felt a hint of embarrassment when she saw the disappointment in his gaze.

Oh, poop! What did he know about the female anatomy, eh? Not all women were blessed with large bosoms!

With that confidence bolstering thought in mind, she reached out and touched Jimmy's chin, lifting his face upwards as she tried not to laugh at the stunned look on his face. "Keep the eyes above the chest if you're under twenty-one, please," she joked. "You're legally not supposed to be here, you know."

And here, Jimmy snorted. "I can be anywhere I want to be," he declared. Then, he frowned. "But you haven't answered my question yet. Why are you working _here_?"

Meela smiled. "I thought we discussed the lack of available jobs in our last conversation, Saint Jimmy."

"But here? This place is kind of like a…a strip club." Jimmy's eyes widened when both Bonnie _and_ Lola Lombardi came out from the changing rooms, both dressed in nothing more than oversized tee-shirts and tube socks.

"Aha! You're in for a treat, darling. They're going to sing now." Meela chuckled as Jimmy stared at her with a look of disbelief, but sure enough, Lola began to lead Bonnie in the Madonna song, "Papa Don't Preach." The men laughed and hooted and waved _many _five dollar bills in the air when Lola lifted the hem of her shirt above her knee, revealing her shapely legs and smooth thighs.

In all honesty, the scene was nauseating. But this was life.

"Oh boy," Jimmy muttered. "I wonder if Johnny knows about this? He'd be _furious_…" He turned to Meela, and gave her an accusing stare. "Do you—"

"No, darling," she replied quickly, a faint blush spreading across her cheeks. "I _do_ perform from time to time, but I tend to wear more…conservative clothing." She caught Jimmy's skeptical look, and sighed. "Well, more conservative than what Lola and Bonnie are wearing, anyway."

"Uh-huh. Quit this job."

_What?! _"Jimmy!"

"Seriously! Does Benji even know that you're working here?"

Meela blushed again, and twiddled her thumbs. "Not in so many words, no…oh, don't tell him!" Meela pleaded when Jimmy's face hardened. "I know exactly what he'll do. He'll march down in here in the middle of the day and rant and rave until I either have him arrested, or I quit right on the spot. I can't have that, Jimmy!"

"And…why not?"

The young mother sighed. "There's too many people to think about! There's Benji, Loretta, Miles… and I can't just go up to my boss and say, 'Hey! I think your business is seedy and degrading to women. Can I have a raise?'"

Jimmy snorted into his can of soda, a grin pushing past the corner of his lips. "Now I see where Benji gets his sarcasm from."

"Well…" Meela smiled weakly, before she gave Jimmy a serious stare. "Let's get to the point, Saint Jimmy. I only have a few minutes of break time left. Is there a problem with Benji at school?"

"Yeah." Jimmy crossed his arms, and set his mouth in a hard, straight line. "Do you know who Adrian Aquaberry is?"

"Ah. Adrian." Meela unconsciously clenched her hands. "Yes, I know him. I know all of the Aquaberry family, in fact. I was particularly close with Amelia Aquaberry."

"Amelia?" Jimmy thought for a moment, before he remembered the photo album that had been hidden under Adrian's pillow, the photo album that had been full of pictures of beautiful women. They were all tall, large women, but curvy beyond belief. There were redheads, blondes, brunettes, women with pink hair, blue hair, even indigo hair…

What Jimmy found fascinating was the fact that they all had blue eyes. They were all the _same_ women. They were all Amelia Aquaberry. Jimmy then turned to Meela, and sighed when he saw how skinny the young mother was. If Meela plumped herself up a bit more, maybe she would be as pretty as Amelia…

"I'm assuming that Benji and Adrian are keeping you in the dark," Meela said quietly, breaking Jimmy away from his thoughts. "Well…I'm going to respect their wishes, Saint Jimmy. If they won't tell you the truth, then I can't divulge it either."

"WHAT?!" Jimmy almost choked on the bit of soda he was swallowing—was this woman serious? "Oh, come on! I didn't track you down just to reach another damned dead-end!"

"Why do you want to know, Jimmy?" Meela asked curiously. "In all honesty, this is a private matter."

"I don't care," Jimmy snapped stubbornly. "This is getting way too out of control. Ben's getting sick because of all this, and Adrian's become all schizoid on me. He's going around dressed as some Greaser called _Ace_, for crying out loud!"

"Yes," Meela muttered, her blue eyes becoming distant. "Benji did mention Adrian's double life. But—" Meela grinned "—unlike you, Benji seems to find it funny."

Jimmy snorted. "He won't find it funny when the Preps and Greasers find out who Ace really is. It's a one-way ticket to a clique war."

"Don't be so dramatic!" Meela retorted, though she started to look somewhat worried. "Um…people don't get hurt too badly in these wars, do they?"

"You kidding? Once a war starts, everyone gets sucked into it. And when I say everyone, I'm including _Benji_."

"Oh. _Ooooooh._" Meela bit her bottom lip for a moment, debating with herself, before she took a deep breath. "Jimmy?"

"Yah?"

"…I can't give you the whole truth. But I can give you a watered down summary. Is that okay?"

Jimmy frowned. "Shit, that depends. How watered down is it?"

"Substantial enough for you to understand the scale of the situation, but watered down enough for it to still remain a private matter." Meela peeked up at Jimmy nervously. "Is that alright, darling?"

Jimmy scowled. This wasn't what he wanted at all; he wanted the whole damn truth. But, as he didn't have much to go on…he had to take what he could get. "Pfft. Whatever. Water away."

"Thank you." Meela gave him her sweetest smile, and despite his very visible efforts to stay calm and collected, Jimmy's face reddened ever so slightly. "As I've already told you, I was close with Amelia Aquaberry."

"Uh-huh."

"She was a beautiful model. Could have had any man she wanted, actually…but she fell in love with her photographer. Miles Shortman. Benji's father."

"Uh-huh…wait, _what_?!"

"Yes, I know. But at first, the Aquaberry family refused to acknowledge their relationship. Said that Miles was too low class. And at any rate, he wasn't a healthy man. He has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and no family wants to have a son-in-law with OCD."

"What does OCD do to you, anyway?"

"That's private, darling."

"Oh. Sorry."

Meela twisted her hands in her lap. Even diluted like she made it, the story still made her uncomfortable. She hurried to the ending. "There's a whole lot of unfortunate events that takes place after that, but in the end, Amelia ran away. Just like that. She disappeared without a trace, and they haven't been able to find her for six years."

Jimmy blinked. "Why'd she do that?"

"Stress, maybe? Pressure from being under her parents' thumb for too long? I have no idea. She's never told me. All I know is that she disappeared one night, and now the Aquaberry family is making up some cockamamie rumor that she's in the Amazon rainforest somewhere. And during that time, I married Miles instead, like the selfish whore that I am."

"You're…you're not a whore."

Meela sighed, and shook her head. "You don't get it, Jimmy. The things that people say…and now Adrian's blaming Miles. It's not his fault! It's Amelia's, more than anything…"

"Jesus." Jimmy leaned back in his chair, his eyes wide with disbelief. "That's gotta be the _stupidest_ reason to hate someone. I mean, if Amelia decided to run away like a stupid little bitch, why blame Miles? Why blame _Benji_?"

"Ahahaha…" Meela laughed nervously at Jimmy's statement, her face turning slightly pale. "Well…who knows? But I'm sure Adrian will come to his senses. He may not be the most intelligent boy, but he has a good heart deep down."

Jimmy snorted. "Yeah right. Deep, _deep_ down, where the sun can't shine."

"And if he doesn't calm down," Meela continued, her voice becoming firmer, "then I'll go talk to him personally. Can I ask you a favor, though?"

"Hmm? Oh. Sure."

"Can you…watch over Benji while you're at school?" Meela flushed slightly at this, but she stared at Jimmy determinedly. "I know it might be a bit bothersome, but—but a mother does worry, you know? And he seems to like you so much, and I can pay you—"

"Why are you asking me this?" Jimmy interrupted rudely. At his tone, Meela's face fell, and she looked away.

"Sorry, Jimmy. I shouldn't have asked…"

"I'm _already_ looking out for the shrimp," Jimmy continued, grinning at the young mother wickedly as she looked up in surprise. "No fee included, okay? Besides…Ben would probably kill me if he found out I was taking money from his mom."

"Oh! Well…" Meela smiled softly, before she reached over and squeezed Jimmy's hand gratefully. "Thank you, Jimmy."

Jimmy paused for a moment, unsure of what to do with the warm, soft hand that was clutching tightly at his. But then he smiled back, and squeezed Meela's hand in return. "No problem, Meela. It's no problem at all. And thank you."

"For what, darling?"

"For helping me out."

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**Read and review. Please.**


	16. Observation 16 'Benji': Notes

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: Let's take things a step slower. Here's a Benji drabble. Please understand that all of the "Notes" in this drabble happen in chronological order. And if you can't remember who Lady Jacqueline/Miss Hydee is, shame on you.

Everything I wrote is _intentional_. There are no mistakes, so read carefully.

**Observation Sixteen (Benji): Notes **

_Note #1: Temperature _

It was quiet and hot, hot, _hot_.

This was probably due to the fact that I was still sick. Normally in November, the air is supposed to get drier, colder, and there's supposed to be a scent of dead leaves and dying plants that signifies the delicate transition of the seasons—the shift between autumn to winter.

But that wasn't the case for me. The air was uncomfortably warm against my face, and my hair was like a thick, sweaty blanket draped across my forehead and the back of my neck. God…I felt so hot that if a person placed a hand on my forehead, they'd pull it back in a hurry, screaming that I had a temperature of a hundred-and-five.

Which isn't true, I'll have you know. I only have a temperature of a hundred-and-_two_, which is only borderline lethal.

When I told that to Jim as my star reason for not heading off towards the hospital, he gave me this look of outright fury, before smacking me upside the head.

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_Note #2: Water _

I gazed up and down the length of the pool. Not a soul in sight, which meant that I had the building all to myself.

The pool looked so cool and clear. I waded in from the shallow end, taking small steps on the white underwater stairway, before I very carefully sat down, letting the cold water stop just above my chin.

Nothing can accurately describe the sense of relief I felt when the coldness of the water ripped the heat from my fevered body. I leaned back, groaning softly as the coolness soaked into my hair, seeping past my skull into my throbbing brain. Through half-lidded eyes, I watched the small ripples in the water ebb away from my fingers as I slowly allowed my body to float.

I was glad that I was alone. This—this was nearly heaven, this one moment of bliss. But there was a sense of vulnerability to it, something that made me feel ashamed and weak. I didn't want anyone to see me like this.

"Ben?"

I opened my eyes in a flash. Jimmy was standing at the edge of the pool, his eyes wide and full of shock as he watched me float. I wasn't wearing anything other than a pair of briefs.

The peaceful spell broke. Suddenly, my body became a rock. I ended up sinking halfway into the deep end of the pool before I remembered that I could swim, but part of me seriously considered just letting myself drown in the same element that offered me comfort not five seconds ago.

I should have known better. The fates never allow me to enjoy my life for too long.

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_Note #3: Melody _

Ever since Adrian came to this damn school, I could hear the distinct noise of horrendous piano music every time I pass by Harrington House.

I knew it was him, even though I haven't set foot in that overpriced excuse for a dorm since he showed up. Who else could possibly butcher _Moonlight Sonata_ that badly? I winced as he hit several wrong notes at once. Even after four years, his playing reeked to high heaven.

As the great and mysterious Lemony Snicket once wrote, there is no worse sound in the world than somebody who cannot play an instrument who insists on doing so anyway.

Any other person—any other _sane_ person—would have given up. Not Adrian. He's playing because he's trying to get that solo right. His sister, Amelia, had written a beautiful score by herself, and it's playable on both the violin and the piano…but it was left unfinished after she ran away. My suspicion is that Adrian the Whore is trying to finish the piece all by his lonesome.

What a retard.

Once, when I was walking Darcy back to Harrington House (she insisted on this, saying that it was proper for gentlemen to escort their ladies to wherever it is they wish to go), I heard the rise and crash of the piano notes, and the groans that accompanied the music afterwards as the other Preps voiced out their less-than-favorable opinions.

"Listen, old _chap_," Tad would hiss, his eyes narrowing in frustration at the Aquaberry heir, "I don't want to intrude on your attempts at playing that noise you call music. HOWEVER! I must insist that you tone it down a bit!"

"I must agree, Adrian!" Gord joined in, though he would always sound more mournful than anyone else. "I know you practice to the best of your abilities, but—but your playing is _murder_ on my beautiful ears! Please, if you must continue this piano business, get some professional help! I heard that the music teacher, Lady Jacqueline, is a master at the piano! Why don't you go to her?"

"Or stop playing altogether!" Darcy chimed, walking into Harrington house like the fine heiress she believed herself to be. "It would save everyone a lot of pain and time, right Benji-poo?"

"Yup," I replied, grinning when Adrian sent me a bone-chilling glare. He wanted to get at me, this was obvious enough, but he restrained himself and merely got up from the piano in a huff, stomping into his room and slamming the door so loudly that even Darcy cringed.

Alas…like Jimmy, Adrian doesn't quite know when enough's enough, especially when it comes to music. The very next day, I heard the dreadful piano music rise again, the player desperately searching for the final notes to the song that his precious sister left behind...

As long as we're on the subject of Jimmy, he's been pissed off at Adrian as of late, even more so than usual. Apparently, Adrian took Gord's advice, and transferred into one of Jacqueline Hydee's music classes…but the only available slot was the class that _Jimmy_ was in.

Armageddon, much?

"I see his damn face enough at Auto Shop!" Jimmy would holler. "Why do I have to see him AGAIN for another two fucking hours? WHY?!"

"Maybe you're just unlucky," I always replied, teasing him. "Maybe this is god's way of saying that you two eventually have to deal with one another somehow."

At my response, Jimmy would just snort in disbelief. "How the hell am I supposed to deal with him? I tried beating the crap out of him, but even so, he's constantly trying to find ways to annoy me…and to corner _you_. He hasn't bothered you lately, has he? I know you've just gotten over being sick and all…"

"I'm fine, Jim. Oh, and if I could make a suggestion as to dealing with Adrian? I personally recommend gutting him with a crowbar. Like that serial killer from Carcer did to some of those creepy gang members…"

"What? Ew! Ben, sometimes you scare me!"

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_Note #4: Hatred _

If looks could kill, Adrian would have murdered me long ago.

I could see the anger and hate that was deeply rooted in his gaze. Out of the two, it is his _anger_ that keeps growing, and I knew that eventually he would ditch Jimmy's warnings and come after me in a dark, secluded alley somewhere.

"Sooner or later," I told Jimmy, "he's going to snap. And everyone's gonna get hurt because of it."

"Pfft." Jimmy waved a careless hand in the air. "If he even _thinks_ about trying to snap, I'll set him straight—again."

But Adrian's anger was nothing compared to his hate. His loathing of me was born the minute he lost his favorite of the Aquaberry siblings, his darling sister who would never return to him because she had found comfort in another source. Every day, his fists would clench even more tightly than before. Each time we were forced to meet eye to eye, Adrian would smile at me with gritted teeth, his manner civil only because Jimmy was right behind me.

I _felt_ this anger and hate to my very core, but I tried to block it out, tried to ignore it completely. As long as I was under Jimmy and Amelia's protection, Adrian couldn't harm me, at least not physically.

I was right under his nose and he couldn't do _anything_ about it. I found a twisted comfort in this, because in a twisted way, I hated him too.

And unlike him, my hatred was justified.

----------

_Note #5: Ripples _

Late at night, Karen and I snuck out to the small beach that was next to the school, the beach that was just under the bridge that led to Bullworth Town and was directly across from the docks at Blue Skies Industrial Park.

I hated sneaking out after dark. I always feel a shiver crawl up my spine, like I was violating some freakin' law of nature, or something. But then again, I wanted to talk to Karen. I liked talking to her. I bore all the shivers, and set off.

I was a little late getting to her. She was already on the beach by the time I arrived, standing around in her bare feet as her sneakers rested a little far off to the side. She had been skipping stones across the black river, and she looked up when she heard my shoes scuffling against the sand. "Hey," she greeted, smiling.

"Hi." I bent down, and picked up a flat stone from the cold sand. Using my left hand (for I was a left-handed person), I sailed the stone straight across the river, making it skip until it completely vanished from sight. Karen let out an impressed whistle.

"That was _cool_," she murmured, her eyes straining to see the lost stone. "How'd you do that? Even Cedric can't get it that far, and he's on the baseball team."

"Meh." I shrugged, and picked up another stone. "It's practice. I used to do this all the time with my mom back at our old place. Lived near a lake back then…"

"Used to swim there too, eh?" Karen added, smiling slyly. "Is that where you got your awesome talent?"

I felt my cheeks flush with heat, and I looked away, coughing nervously. "Think what you want." I muttered, before I tossed the stone as hard as I could, using strength more than technique. This time, however, it stopped twenty feet from the shoreline and sank into the black waters, rippling the smooth surface.

Looking at the ripples, I remembered this story Meela once told me. There was once a god who created men and women for his amusement. To decide if the people were to live eternally or die after a short lifespan, the god selected a stone. "If the stone floats," the god said, "humans will live forever." The stupid god dropped the stone into a river. It sank. People now die.

Even gods were stupid. If he had skipped the stone like I did, maybe people wouldn't have to die.

I suddenly realized that Karen was talking to me, and I jerked myself back to reality. "So," Karen went on, her voice low and careful, "since you're officially a Jock now—"

I cut her off. "Not really. Both the Nerds and the Jocks are sort of hostile towards me right now. They said that I have to choose one clique or the other." I snorted. Jerks."

"Maybe you _should_ choose," Karen said quietly, surprising me.

"What?"

"Maybe you _should_ choose a side." Stepping near the edge of the river, she dipped one cautious foot into the water, shivering at its low temperature. "Maybe you should just join a side and get it over with. No use stirring up trouble."

"Oh, come on!" I protested, a scowl pushing down at the corners of my lips. "Not you too! And I suppose you want me to join the Jocks, am I right?"

"Benji, I never said that."

"It's what I'm hearing!"

"I admit," she said, her voice still quiet, "that I _do_ want you to join the Jocks. But I know that you like studying, and—"

"It's not that I _like _studying," I snapped. "I study because I have to. You think my mother can actually afford for me to come here? At the same time, I honestly don't want to practice seven days a week like Damon and the others. Coach Beckham said three days a week's worth of practice is fine, and I'm sticking with that!" I stopped, huffing and puffing as my face turned red from anger and the cold.

And boy, was it _cold_.

At the end of my rant, Karen sighed and sat down on the dark sand. "Benji, I don't want to force you into anything. I'm just saying that…maybe you shouldn't overexert yourself."

I growled, and picked up another stone. "I'm not overexerting _anything_," I muttered angrily, disappointed and frustrated that one of my best friends had disregarded my wishes. "I'm absolutely fucking fantabulous." I tossed the stone straight into the water this time, not even bothering to skip it.

A wave of ripples exploded from there the stone hit the water. The ripples grew, becoming larger and larger, wider and wider, thinner and thinner…until finally they disappeared, having stretched themselves to the breaking point.

----------

_Note #6: Loyalty _

Loyalty is good only if you've done the work to earn it—and to _keep_ it.

The Nerds are friendly towards one another, but I've found them to be awfully competitive. Even though they're all _friends_, they're always trying to outdo one another. Trying to see who was higher on the Nerd academic hierarchy, or some crap like that.

You'd think that, as members of the same clique, their grades wouldn't matter to one another. I mean, come _on_. They're all Nerds. They all get good grades _anyway_. But somehow, they seemed to trust each other as much as any other student in Bullworth Academy. They would casually ask each other for marks, nodding politely if someone had a lower-than-usual grade. But once that bad-mark person left the area, they'd all gossip and demean the poor guy behind his back. If the grade was truly horrendous, they'd flat out make fun of him right to his face.

The only exceptions to this cruelty were Gloria and Beatrice. Still, they're savages, the whole lot of them.

"What did you get on that last science test?" Donald would ask Algie.

"An A, as usual," Algie would reply snootily. "What did _you_ get on that last math test?"

"I got a B plus…"

"HA!"

"I have an excuse!" Donald would whine. "You know I had the flu!"

"It doesn't matter what ailment you have! What sort of self-respecting employer would hire someone who only received a B plus? An idiot, that's who!"

"Oh yeah? Well…"

And here, I'd pick up my books and head back to the Boys' Dorm.

Loyalty. It's a damn lie.

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_Note #7: Souls _

I am truly in love with Ms. Deidre Philips.

It's not just that she's beautiful (which she is) or talented (which she is) or extravagantly elegant and drop-dead-gorgeous (which, again, she is). My love stems from the fact that she has a beautiful soul.

Not everyone can create a piece of artwork. Why, Darcy can barely draw stick figures, Karen's efforts don't go beyond that of paper and crayons, and Gloria…well, at least her sculptures are pretty, but that's only because she keeps asking me to correct them. It's as if _I_ made the sculptures, not her.

But Ms. Philips, she doesn't see the world like everyone else does. She knows that true beauty lies not within the face, but within one's mentality, one's personality, and one's actions. She knows how to see if a person is a diamond in the rough, and she knows how to draw out this inner beauty in the vaguest of ways.

Near the end of November, she gave us a twenty-second exercise. As fast as we could, with no thoughts included whatsoever, we were to draw something—_anythin_g—on a piece of blank paper.

"I don't want you to think," she said. "In fact, don't think at all. Just draw. Twenty seconds. Are you ready, children? Just draw your _souls_. Go!"

Everyone, including myself, wasted five seconds just staring stupidly back at her. Then, when we saw that she was absolutely serious and was counting the seconds very quietly, all pencils hit the paper.

I don't remember thinking. There wasn't really time to think, and when Ms. Philip called, "Stop!" I looked down at my paper, dazed and completely surprised at what I had drawn. Sneaking glances at other people's papers, I saw that everyone had at least drawn a central shape—a circle, a triangle, a square, a heart, etc. No one drew a flower or a building or a decapitated person, just those simple shapes. Then, there were distinct designs inside each shape. A jewel, some numbers, a star, and something that looked like a baseball bat.

Mine was a circle that had several other layers of circles inside. In the very center of all these circles, in that tiny, miniscule center, was a shaded maple leaf.

When Ms. Philips collected our pictures, she stopped at mine, and stared at it, her expression puzzled. Oh god. Had I done something wrong?

"Interesting," she murmured. "Very interesting, Benjamin."

I hoped that it was the "good" kind of interesting.

The next day, when we all came back to her classroom, we saw that she had tacked every single drawing up onto the walls. There were even some pictures from the older classes, even the senior class. Meh, for a bunch of older kids, they sure were unoriginal. Their soul drawings looked similar to ours.

I saw a heart-shaped drawing that had a teardrop inside. Must be Petey's. There was also a triangle with a particularly ugly looking scribble inside that I turned away from. Definitely Gary's.

As I looked on, I noticed (with much shock) that one of the drawings was exactly identical to mine. The layers of circles, the shaded maple leaf…it was _exactly_ the same.

"Intriguing, isn't it?" Ms. Philips remarked, when she caught my astonished look. "You and Jimmy Hopkins seem to share one soul."

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_Note #8: Gift Horse _

Because that fag Adrian's always watching me, I have to ask Jimmy to distract him while I sneak off to Blue Skies Industrial Park to see Meela.

Jimmy would comply very quickly, which in turn made me suspicious. He's been a bit too understanding as of late, and I have absolutely no idea why he's being so cool with me. There's no reason for him to be nice unless he got something out of it…and I'd eaten the last of my Halloween candy bars a while ago.

Still, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

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_Note #9: Comfort _

Home isn't really all that great. The houses in Blue Skies are kinda old, and there's this smell that practically screams dilapidation. Looking at the house from the outside, I saw the peeling white paint, the horribly shingled roofs, and the broken chimney. I wanted to puke.

But Meela still managed to make everything feel comfortable. She's weeded out the old plants from the dirt outside our house, and is planning to plant new flowers in the spring. She's cleaned the front yard, swept the backyard, and decorated the inside of that old house with every bit of flair and paint she had. She's placed her prized violin on the mantel above the broken fireplace, giving the area a look of elegance.

My room is exactly as I remember it, from the Naruto bed sheets to the Dragonball Z posters on the walls. Meela even placed all of my comic books in a pile next to my bed for easy access. As for my idiot father Miles, he stays in his own room all day. He doesn't _want_ to come out, and for that, I'm glad. I don't want to see the selfish bastard.

From the inside of the house, there's nothing but pure homestyle beauty and comfort. Even General Loretta is impressed.

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_Note #10: Love _

Despite my age, I don't tend to sleep well unless someone's holding me.

When I was little, Meela used to crawl into bed with me, and the two of us would snuggle close under the warm blankets. "Let's build a raft and float away down a river," she would whisper, and I would giggle and snuggle closer until my face was buried into the crook of her soft neck.

And, just like that, I'd fall asleep in her arms, inhaling her pleasant smell of coffee, strawberry muffins, and peach-scented body wash.

At Bullworth, I didn't sleep well, which was partially the reason why I got so sick. But during my first night back, I tried to go to sleep alone in my beautifully furnished room, courtesy of Meela.

That night, I dreamt that I was floating down a river with Meela. We were sitting with our backs pressed to one another, our feet trailing the cold water as we laughed and pointed at the skipping fish. Then, the river started to change. It became bluer, like the color of a robin's egg, and bits of white began to poke through the water. I also noticed that everything around us was becoming smaller, and then I realized that Meela and I were being lifted out of the water, pulled right into the blue skies as we clung onto one another for dear life.

And then, suddenly, the raft disappeared, and I felt gravity do its work as I plummeted back towards the Earth, screaming as I tried to grab for something, anything, that would slow me down.

MEELA! I'M GONNA DIE! SAVE ME!

Suddenly I felt a hand grab my arm and I jerked out of my nightmare, panting and sweating and Meela pulled me close to her body, holding me tightly as if I was going to get ripped apart from her otherwise. My body, which had been shaking madly, slowly calmed down as I shakily wrapped my arms around her neck.

I love you, Meela. Please don't ever leave me.

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_Note #11: Rain _

The rain pounded hard on the roof.

The downpour had been unexpected, and as such the swim meet against Heartland Preparatory School was cancelled. The meet was supposed to be on _their_ turf, but their only pool was an _outdoor_ one.

Idiots.

Still, it didn't stop me from swimming anyway. As I swam in the empty school swimming pool, Jimmy joined me, clad only in his white briefs.

"It's kinda nice," he remarked. "Having this whole pool to yourself…beats all the pussy Jocks whining about how much they have to practice."

"Uh-huh." I wasn't really listening to him. I had my eyes closed as I floated on my back in the pool. The only thing I could hear was the distant patters of rain and, for some reason, this relaxed me.

"So…how's Meela?" Jimmy asked, looking at me with careful eyes. Though I felt annoyance at this question, I didn't have the energy to yell at him.

"She's fine," I said sleepily. "She still won't tell me what her night job is, but I'm pretty sure she's working as a waitress somewhere…"

God. I was so tired. Damn rain, making me all fatigued and such…

I opened my eyes a crack, and through my prescription swimming goggles, I saw that Jimmy looked uncomfortable. I frowned—what was wrong with him? He seemed very odd around me lately, and he's been bashing Adrian a lot as of late. Not that I mind the Adrian-bashing, but him acting odd around me is disturbing!

I swam over to the shallow end, and perched myself on the stairs. "You got a problem with me, Jim?" I asked suspiciously as he swam towards me. "You've been acting really weird…"

"Nothing!" Jim grabbed the edge of the stairs, and sat down until only his head was visible above the water. "Everything's fine, Ben. Why're you asking me this? Has Adrian been bothering you again? Did Meela say something about me?"

"No…" I frowned. Those questions were strange in nature, but I wasn't in the mood for an argument. Instead, I sighed and continued swimming. "Forget it, Jim. Everything's just been a little hectic lately…"

"You can say that again," Jimmy agreed, leaning back against the stairs. "Say, have you noticed that two of Ms. Philips's soul drawings are exactly the same?"

I blushed, and turned my gaze away from him. "No…no I haven't."

The rain pounded hard on the roof.

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**I really liked working on this chapter, and I would honestly like some feedback on it. Thank you in advance. **

**Read and review. **


	17. Observation 17: Doppelgangers

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: For those with bad memories, Jacqueline Hydee is a character I created for this story. She is the school's music teacher who has a bad case of multiple personality disorder. When she's Lady Jacqueline, she's very sweet and airy. When she's Miss Hydee, she puts on glasses, ties her hair up and develops an army sergeant-like personality. SCARY.

I'm so proud of her… (Sniffs)

Unfortunately, I'm not proud of this chapter. I'm a horrid writer! (Runs into corner, curls into fetal position, and rocks back and forth while sucking on thumb)

**Observation Seventeen: Doppelgangers**

"Scales, C major!"

_Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, tee, DO!_

"Scales, A minor!"

_Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, tee, DO!_

"Scales, D major!"

_Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, tee…CLANG!_

The entire music class winced as Adrian hit a wrong note—_again_. Lady Jacqueline, who had quickly transformed into the bespectacled Miss Hydee, glared unsympathetically at the now cowering Aquaberry heir.

_Yay, _Jimmy thought, a wicked smile pushing past the corners of his lips. _She's finally gonna kill Adrian! Break out the champagne!_

"My dear boy," Miss Hydee said quietly, her voice deep, soft, and filled to the brim with invisible venom. "That's the fourteenth mistake you've made today. That's four more than your usual average."

Adrian cringed. "I-I'm sorry, Lady Jacqueline—"

"It's Miss Hydee to you, boy."

"Eep."

"How," Miss Hydee sighed, "can I _ever_ get you to the next level if you cannot even advance past playing simple scales? Why, Chad is playing Mozart on his flute like a master, and James is already well on his way to finishing his solo of Led Zeppelin's _Stairway to Heaven_! Why, if not for the fact that they're playing entirely different styles of music, you could almost say that their prowess in music mirrors one another!"

"Milady," Chad replied, giving the music teacher a mock bow at the waist, "it's an honor to have you compliment my mediocre playing. I honestly do not deserve such attention."

"Zip it, Morris," Miss Hydee snapped. "You know I don't like kiss-asses, even if you _do_ play extraordinarily well." Then, she took off her spectacles and turned to Jimmy with an airy smile, giggling when the boy gave her a wary look. "Oh, James!" she said lightly, her voice suddenly an octave higher than and twice as friendly as before. "I'm so pleased with your progress! Your guitar solo is coming along quite nicely, and you're only making half as many mistakes as before!"

"Thanks, Lady Jacqueline," Jimmy said carefully, not wanting the schizophrenic woman to change back into her less-than-pleasant persona. "I'll definitely have the song nailed by Christmas."

"I'm sure you will! Now, for the rest of you, remember that I'll be expecting you to perform your musical pieces from the beginning of next week! If you forget your appointment without giving me a warning, you'll automatically fail!" Lady Jacqueline laughed cheerfully at the last statement, unaware of the terrified look that had appeared on the faces of most of her students.

"Man, she is NOT normal," Parker whispered to Bryce.

Suddenly, the bell rang, and Lady Jacqueline said happily, "Now, off you go, my dear cherubs! Pack up your instruments, and enjoy the rest of your day! For those who wish to stay and practice—" here she glanced at Adrian "—you're very much welcome to! Toodles!"

With that, the music teacher half-floated, half-pranced out of the room, giggling and cooing as if she was a fairy from a world far, _far_ away.

Jimmy wished that she would actually disappear to a world far, _far_ away.

"What a bitch," he mumbled, placing the guitar back against the wall of the music room. He then scrunched up his face, and mimicked in a horrible, high-pitched voice, "_I'm so pleased with your progress, James! Even though it took you months to get the song right, I'm still going to fail you if you get even one note wrong because I'm a sadistic, multi-personality sluthole_!"

"Shut up, Hopkins!" Chad snapped as he packed his flute in its case. "At least Lady Jacqueline likes you! She pays more attention to you than she does to the rest of the class combined!"

"I'd gladly give up her love, Chad. You want her attention? You can have it!"

"With pleasure!" the black Prep sneered, before he stared longingly at the piano, which Adrian was now playing (poorly) with much fever. "I'd give anything to have the heart of the beautiful Jacqueline Hydee…even if she _is_ a bit insane."

Jimmy raised a brow, before he snorted in disbelief. "You like them a bit crazy, eh?"

"Oh, do shut up, Hopkins! It's none of your bloody business!"

"Would you two pipe down?!" Adrian snapped, as he tried to play a complicated song. "I'm trying to work here! I only have fifteen minutes before I have to go work with John—I mean, before I have to attend my special, ultra-super advanced history class that only a select few students in this school are attending!"

"Oh really?" Chad let out a judgmental click of the tongue. "You know, I've been meaning to ask you about that. What sort of history class is it, and what's the time slot? Because I've been wanting to take an advanced class, but I'm not much for science and math. I've always been more of a history and literature person…"

Adrian suddenly blushed, and looked down at his piano keys. "I'm sorry Chad," he said in a tense voice. "The class is full. Now please don't bother me. I'm trying to play the piano version of _Granuaile's Dance_. It's the favorite song of my older siblings, Angelina and Andrew." With that, he resumed his playing, his eye twitching whenever he struck a wrong note.

While Chad stared at the Adrian with confusion at the boy's strange statements, Jimmy merely rolled his eyes. Honestly, he did not know how Adrian could get any more obvious.

As Adrian messed up his thirty-seventh note, Jimmy walked over to the dark-haired Prep, and whispered in a low voice, "You know…your sister running away is no excuse for you taking your anger out on Benji, me, and the nice piano Miss Hydee so generously lent you. I'd suggest anger management classes, man."

Adrian's eyes widened for a moment, before they darkened with rage. "How did you know?" he asked quietly, as Chad was still in the room. "Did that bastard child Benjamin tell you?"

"Hey man…" Jimmy gave Ace a mocking smile. "That's _personal_."

---------

"Hopkins, was it really necessary for you to come to the gas station with me? Or do you just find some perverse pleasure in annoying me?"

Jimmy shrugged as he leaned against the hood of the car. "Meh. A little of both, I guess."

"Oh, for the love of god!" Adrian, who was now dressed as Ace, glared at him in fury. Pulling the gas pump out of the car, he brandished the tool at Jimmy like a weapon and hissed in his feigned, rough voice, "Hopkins, I do _not_ have any fucking patience for you today. Just go away!"

"Go away?" Jimmy blinked innocently at the disguised Prep. "Jesus, _Ace_. You're acting like I'm gonna blow your cover or something. Mellow out, man."

"M-mellow out? Don't tell me to 'mellow out,' Hopkins! For your information, I'm waiting for some guests, all right? And their visit has absolutely nothing to do with you, so please leave!"

"Oh really?" Jimmy cocked his head to the side in interest. "And who exactly are these _guests_, if I may ask? Got some more Greaser friends that I don't know about?"

"What? Why, I outta deck you! Just go awa—"

Suddenly, two pairs of arms wrapped around Ace's shoulders like snakes. Both Jimmy and Ace jumped at this sudden intrusion, but the two people who were holding Ace merely chuckled and pulled the squirming Prep closer to their bodies.

For a moment, Jimmy had to blink and rub his eyes. Although the two people coddling Ace were definitely a man and a woman in their early thirties, they looked very, _very_ alike. Although the man was wearing a white Aquaberry suit and had short hair, and the woman was wearing a white Aquaberry dress along with a white Aquaberry overcoat and had long hair, they looked completely identical.

They had identical tall heights, identical facial features, identical hair colors (their hair was a light brown), identical dark eyes, and identical cat-like grins.

It was downright eerie to see two people who looked so much alike. Jimmy had to suppress a shiver as he took a step away from them. If the man and woman wanted to switch genders, no one would be the wiser. They were _that_ similar.

"Well, well, well," the two people said simultaneously. "Look at what we have here…our little mecha-loving duckling." The man and woman sighed, before they both rubbed their smooth cheeks against Ace's. "Oh, baby brother. How we've missed you…"

"BABY BROTHER?!" Jimmy's jaw smacked the floor. These two people—these two creepy, identical people—were Adrian's older siblings? Dear god, they were probably twins…ugh! Jimmy suppressed another shiver. Twin Aquaberry Preps! THE HORROR!

But before he could say or think anything else, Ace quickly detangled himself from the twins' hold and rushed over to Jimmy's side, clamping both of his hands firmly over Jimmy's mouth. "For the love of god, Hopkins!" Ace cried, his voice reverting back to its English accent. "Shut the hell up! Are you trying to expose me right here and now?"

"No," Jimmy mumbled from underneath Ace's hands. "You've been doing a pretty good job of it yourself…"

"Yo, Ace!" Johnny peeked over the hood of the car he was working on, his face covered with grease marks. "Everything goin' all right over there? I heard yelling!" 

"Everything's fine, man!" Ace replied loudly, his voice rough and deep once again. "Don't worry about me, aight? Worry about yourself! Them people I told you about is here!"

"_Them people_?" The Aquaberry twins exchanged glances. "_Aight?_ Oh my my…" The man slung an arm over the woman's shoulder. Jimmy noticed that the man was wearing lip gloss. "Precious sibling, what has happened to our dear baby brother?"

The woman sighed. "I don't know," she said wistfully. Jimmy noticed that her arms looked more muscular than normal for a woman. "He's dressing inappropriately, my love."

"He's acting all low class and common-ish."

"He's using a New York accent and improper grammar!"

"He's using a fake commoner name and making commoner friends under false pretenses!"

"Do you know what that means?"

"Yes, yes I do."

The twins each reached over and pinched Ace hard on both cheeks, making the dark-haired Prep squeal with pain. "Dearest baby brother!" the twins said joyously over Adrian's shrieks. "You've finally grown up! Welcome to the world of rich adults with too much time on their hands! Congratulations!" The twins pulled at Ace's cheeks so roughly that the skin was starting to stretch…

"BAH! Go away!" Ace yanked himself away from the twins, rubbing furiously at his red, bruising cheeks. "Damn it! Don't do this to me now, Angelina! Leave me be, Andrew! I have no time to be the victim of your stupid games!"

"No can do, brother dearest." The twins each waggled a finger in front of Ace's face. "Ever since Amelia ran away, we've yet to find our replacement 'toy.' Since you're the only sibling we have left, you're the most convenient torture subject."

Ace's eye twitched. "…you've got to be kidding me."

"Nope." Both twins shook their heads. "We kid you not, brother dear."

Silence. Then…

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU BOTH! YOU'VE ALWAYS VIEWED ME AND AMELIA AS NOTHING BUT OBJECTS FOR YOUR SICK, TWISTED AMUSEMENT! I WON'T HAVE IT ANYMORE! _I_—_WON'T_—_HAVE_—_IT!_"

"ACE! What the hell?!"

"Sorry Johnny…it's nothing…"

Throughout Ace's rants, Johnny's worried yells, and the amused laughter of the twins, Jimmy stood back, absorbing everything he was seeing and hearing. "Huh," he mumbled to himself. "So Amelia did run away after all…"

"Hmm?" Hearing Jimmy's voice, the woman turned her head towards him, and gave him an interested look. "Oh! I'd forgotten about you. Are you a friend of _Ace_?" The woman's lips curved slightly at the use of the false name.

"Um…" Jimmy scratched the back of his head uncertainly. "Define friend. I mean, he's not someone I completely hate, like Gary Smith, but…I dunno. I don't really like him either…"

"Oh, that's what everyone says." The woman walked towards Jimmy in a sultry manner, making him flush slightly. "No one at Adrian's old school liked him very much either, especially since he has a thing for hanging around commoners. But then again—" the woman licked her lips "—I like commoner boys too." Provocatively, she leaned against his body, and gave him a wicked smile when Jimmy's eyes widened. "Call me _Drew_."

_D-Drew?! Oh good lord…what is that thing? What the hell is pressing against my leg?!_

Jimmy tried to back away, only to find himself already backed onto the side of a car. Jesus fucking Christ…this woman had things that a woman _shouldn't_ have down in her lower areas... "M-maybe I should go," Jimmy said uneasily, trying with little success to slip away.

The "woman" pouted, and gently leaned off of Jimmy's body. "You're no fun," he complained. "I thought everyone was bisexual nowadays. Don't tell me you're only playing for one team, cutie."

"Goodbye!" With that, Jimmy slipped away from Andrew, who in turn sulked before he ran off, high heels and all, towards the suit-wearing Angelina. Jimmy grabbed Ace's arm before he pulled the younger boy over to a quiet corner to talk. "I'm assuming that Angelina is the one who looks like a man," Jimmy hissed in a low voice.

"Oh, really?" Ace blinked, before he shrugged. "Well, _I_ didn't notice. But it figures that they'd do something like this. I didn't think they'd switch identities _here_, though…"

"THEY'VE DONE IT BEFORE?!"

"Not so loud, Hopkins! And to answer your question, yes, they _have_ done it before! And when they do, no one can tell which twin is which! Not even me!"

"Oh god…" Jimmy resisted the urge to puke when the female-looking Andrew began to flirt openly with Norton, who was unfortunately flirting back due to sheer ignorance. "We should do something. This is so _very _wrong…"

Ace sighed. "I know. But ever since Andrew realized that he looked good in dresses, and ever since Angelina found out how elegant she looked in suits, they've developed this awful little habit of switching genders…and them being identical twins don't exactly help matters."

"But it's…so…not right. Even Trent doesn't go around wearing skirts!"

"Well, we can't exactly stop them. In a few days, they'll switch back to their own identities, with many people being none the wiser. The only person who could tell them apart was Amelia, and…" Ace faltered off, his eyes becoming misty and distant from behind his shades.

Unfortunately, this didn't touch Jimmy's heart in the least. "And she ran off to lessen her heartache, blah, blah, blah…" Jimmy waved a hand in the air. "Yeah, I heard it all already…"

"Then why can't you understand why I need to see Shortman's parents?" Ace cried, planting his hands on his hips while giving Jimmy a hard frown. "By god, I KNOW that Benjamin knows where Amelia is! He's hiding her! I'm positive about this!"

"Are you listening to yourself? How would Ben know where Amelia is? They've never even met!"

"Never even—WHAT?!" Ace stared at Jimmy in disbelief. "What do you mean, they've never even met? Who told you that nonsense?"

"Um…" Well. This was new.

"After this lovely chat, Johnny," the male-looking Angelina said in a low, husky voice, "I think that you and Norton are _very_ charming gentlemen."

"I agree," Andrew purred in his high-pitched voice, hugging Norton's muscular arm all the while. "You boys are quite the engineers. I'm sure that the Chief Executive Officer of our new bike company would love to have you on staff."

"Cool!" Johnny and Norton grinned. "But err…I thought _you_ guys were the bosses."

"Us? Oh, heavens no!" Andrew giggled flirtatiously, and Angelina chuckled deeply. "We're merely the silent co-founders! We simply observe and report. But don't worry. You two are very promising young men…right, _Ace_?" Angelina turned to Ace and gave her younger brother a devilish smile, one that made Ace groan with exasperation.

"For crying out loud, Lina," the disguised Prep mumbled softly. "Can you make things any _more_ obvious?"

Jimmy snorted as the Aquaberry twins resumed their chat with Johnny and Norton. "Like I said before, Ace, you've been doing a pretty good job of it yourself. No need for your gender-confused siblings."

"…goddamn it, Hopkins. Just shut the fuck up."

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	18. Observation 18: Dolores

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: Another Jimmy and Benji conversation chapter.

I don't know why, but I honestly feel like I'm letting you guys down. Whenever I look at my writing now and compare it to the previous drabbles, I feel like crying…

**Observation Eighteen: Dolores**

"You know that having a _rat_ around is unhygienic, right Ben?"

Benji looked up at Jimmy with wide, innocent eyes. "But Jim," the small boy protested, "she's so much fun! How can you _not_ like her and her adorable rat-like cuteness?" With one finger, Benji gestured to the top of his head, where a large, fat rat was sleeping quietly. "See? She's just taking a nap! That's how well I trained her."

"Feh!" Jimmy snorted in disbelief, before he picked up the box of cookies that were on Benji's bed and helped himself. "It's not gonna work," Jimmy mumbled as he chewed on a large piece of shortbread. "Just you watch. The rat's gonna run away the first chance it gets, and then mate with the other rats in this school. There's gonna be an infestation of plague-filled rodents in every room, and it'll all be because of_ you_."

"Don't be so overdramatic!" Benji snapped, snatching the box of shortbread away from Jimmy. "For your information, the rat has a name. Her name is Dolores Elizabeth Anya Fatima Mei Li…_Shortman_." The wheat-haired boy said the last word with a heavy amount of pride, and smiled rather smugly at the older, gaping seventeen-year-old boy sitting next to him.

Jimmy stared at Benji for a long, _long_ while, before he finally took a deep, _deep_ breath, and massaged his temples. "Ben?"

"Yes, Jim?" Benji replied sweetly.

"You do realize that's an odd international mix of names, right?"

"Yup."

"...do you really expect me to call that _thing_—" Jimmy pointed at the rodent apprehensively—"by that ridiculously long name? Because if you do, I swear I will throw that rat down the toilet and flush it repeatedly until it's in Rat Heaven. Or Rat Hell. I don't care which."

Silence.

Benji's eye twitched slightly at Jimmy's remark, the smile fully gone from his doll-like face. "Jim…you're such a goddamn bastard sometimes, you know that?"

"Pfft. Me and Gary hear that phrase at least twice a day," Jimmy replied carelessly, his shoulders moving up and down in a bored shrug before he flashed Benji a teasing grin. "Why d'ya ask, Ben? Is being a bastard _bad_ in your book, or something?"

"BAH! FORGET IT! Look, just call the rat Dolores, okay? I only use her full name on paper, anyway." The wheat-haired boy then frowned, before he crossed his arms. "I don't see why you don't like Dolores's full name. Meela loves it…"

Jimmy blinked in surprise. "Are you serious? Meela actually likes that little walking carrier of the black plague?"

"Her name is Dolores!"

"I don't care!"

"Asshole!" Benji stuck his little pink tongue out at Jimmy, but his sudden movement caused Dolores to slip off of his head, making the rat squeak with fright as she tumbled into Benji's lap. "Oh crap! Sorry, Dolores…" The wheat-haired boy quickly offered the shaken animal a bit of shortbread as an apology, and in seconds Dolores was able to calm down by frantically nibbling at the treat.

Jimmy watched all this with a mixture of awe and disgust. "Ugh. I've never seen those things so obedient before. It's creepy."

"You should see the tricks she can do," Benji said proudly. "I can't believe that Earnest was just going to throw her away! Just because she turned sterile…that's no reason to kill her!"

"Pardon me?" 

"Earnest was working on a project," Benji explained, "to see if he could cure creatures that were deemed to be incurable. He caught several of the dirtiest rats in school, and pumped them full of antibiotics and other medicines to make them hygienic. He even gave them carefully orchestrated _baths_…"

"You Nerds are crazy," Jimmy said decidedly.

"Oh, shut up, Jim. I'm not a Nerd."

"One day, I'm going to convince you that you are, and then laugh in your face about it."

"ANYWAY!" Benji went on, his cheeks becoming a dark shade of red, "Dolores was one of his first test subjects. He managed to make her very clean, but something happened to her reproductive organs. For some reason, Earnest's dosage of medications made her completely sterile, so the first experiment was deemed a complete failure."

"Ouch."

"Uh-huh." Benji nodded his head solemnly. "He just found out about this a little while ago. He was going to drown Dolores in a fire bucket by the janitor's closet, but I asked him to give her to me. And now she's my pet." Benji chuckled as Dolores climbed her way to the top of Benji's left shoulder. "It's been great. The first trick I taught her was to creep up my shirt sleeve and come out by the back of my neck. Then, I taught her how to climb up my head by putting cookie crumbs in my hair…"

Jimmy studied the now-active Dolores, who was currently nibbling on the remainder of the shortbread that Benji was holding by her face. The older boy slowly reached over to Dolores, and tried to pet her on the head….only to shrink back when the rat snapped at him, trying to bite his finger. "BEN! She's rabid!"

"She is not," Benji said, waving a hand carelessly in the air in dismissal. "She just doesn't trust you yet. It takes a while for her to get used to new faces." The small boy then grinned wickedly. "There's one good thing about her insecurity though. She bit Gary earlier today, when he tried to noogie me…she scared the shit out of him. You can ask Petey for proof!"

As much as Jimmy wanted to crack up at the thought of Gary screaming at the sight of a fat gray rat biting his little finger, the older boy instead sighed, and shook his head. "Dolores is still gross, Benji. I don't like her."

"HA!" Benji scoffed, and patted Dolores on the top of her head. "Dolores is wonderful as a pet! You're only saying that because you've never had a pet yourself."

"Hey! That's not true, Ben! I've have plenty of pets!"

Benji raised a skeptical brow. "Oh really?"

"Yeah, _really_. I've had a cat, a dog, some goldfish, a bird, and two chameleons."

The small, wheat-haired boy cocked his head to the side in interest. "Huh. So what happened to all of them?"

"Ah. Well, the dog got run over by my second stepdad's car."

"Oh."

"My two chameleons slipped out of their cages and disappeared."

"How sad."

"My bird and goldfish got eaten by my mom's cat."

"The tragedy of it all."

"And mom's cat got flattened by a passing steamroller. Blood and guts were everywhere."

"…ew." Benji winced at the thought of a pancake-like cat. "Okay, that last one was just gross."

Jimmy shrugged. "Shit happens, right?"

"I guess," Benji said quietly, the corner of his lips drooping into a low frown. "You don't seem to take care of your things very well…"

Jimmy snorted, and leaned back on Benji's bed. "They were just animals. Nothing special."

"You don't seem to take care of _anything_ very well."

"Excuse me?" The older boy raised a brow. "Care to explain that, Ben?"

"Well, think about it. It makes perfect sense that all your pets died or ran away on you. You're disorganized, and you don't take commitment very well. Take your room, for example. It's a mess. Your stuff is everywhere, and the last time I went in there, you had pencils stuck on the ceiling that were arranged to look like the Mona Lisa."

"That," Jimmy protested, "is _not_ a mess. That's pure artwork."

"Sure it is." Benji rolled his eyes. "Now, let's move on to your relationships."

"My what-now?"

"Your relationships. For the past couple of months, I've noticed you've gone through at least three girls and two boys."

Jimmy blinked. "What's wrong with that? You're the only person who seems to have a problem with playing the field."

"Playing the field," the small child said irritably, "can get you in trouble. And Petey told me that you've had at least ten girlfriends and five boyfriends in the last two years alone, _excluding_ the girls and boys you've had on the side as mistresses."

"Mistress is a term used for marriage. And only women, I think."

"NOT THE POINT!" Benji shrieked, a vein throbbing on his forehead as Dolores squeaked and disappeared under his shirt sleeve. "For god's sake, Jimmy! Even grown men don't fool around as much as you do, unless they're…err…" The wheat-haired boy faltered off.

"Unless they're…_what_?" Jimmy pressed on, his interest now fully aroused. "Come on. Spit it out."

"Well…" Benji fidgeted slightly under Jimmy's stare. "You act kind of…loose."

What? WHAT?!

"_Loose_?" Jimmy repeated slowly, his face slowly turning red. His mind fully understood the connotation of the word, but he was unwilling to accept it. "What the hell do you mean, _loose_? What are you trying to say?"

"Well…you're kind of…_slutty_."

Silence.

"I mean, I've seen a lot of Casanovas in my old schools, but you take the _cake_, man."

More silence.

"Fifteen official lovers in three years! Several more off the record! From age fifteen to seventeen, that's quite a resume, man. Seriously, one of these days, your playboy antics are going to get you stuck in a rut. You're gonna wind up old and alone if you don't start showing the ladies that you're someone they can trust, because at the rate you're going, you're either going to be a full-time, emotionless sex partner to someone, or you're going to marry repeatedly and end up paying seven alimonies…"

"Ben," Jimmy growled suddenly, "just shut up." He shut his eyes, and tried not to think.

Alimonies. Sex. Multiple partners. All this reminded him of his goddamn slut of a mother. He wasn't like her, was he? NO! Of course not! Benji was just a stupid kid—what the hell did he know about relationships? All the brat had was a fucking entrapment with Darcy Harrington, which meant NOTHING!

Benji seemed to sense Jimmy's rising temper, and he desperately tried to change the subject. "Uh, forget I said anything, okay Jim? I know! Let's go torture Adrian some more! I heard he's been practicing the piano nonstop ever since his creepy twin siblings came into town…why don't we swing by Harrington House?" The small boy suddenly fell silent when Jimmy glared at him.

"What do you know?" Jimmy said angrily. "You know nothing about relationships! All you really have is Meela, and she can't be around you twenty-four hours a day!"

"W-what?" The wheat-haired boy's eyes widened in shock, before they hardened dangerously. "You leave Meela out of this! She's never done anything to you!"

"No, that's true. Your faults are your own problems, after all. Maybe that's why you always hang around me? Because you have no one else?"

"That's not true! I have lots of friends! I'm with Darcy! You know that!"

"DARCY?! HA! You don't even like her! Why don't you go with Karen? I _know_ you like _her_."

Benji's face flushed a full shade of red, but his features turned angry, not embarrassed. "She's just a friend! I don't like her like _that_! And anyway, until Darcy gives me a legitimate reason to break up with her, I'm not going to leave her! I won't cheat on her, Jim!"

"Listen to yourself!" Jimmy yelled, his voice rising with every word. "You sound like a goddamn married man! You're pathetic!"

"It's better than being a _whore_!" Benji screamed. Then, he stopped, his face pale and shocked.

Jimmy was shocked too. His face, already red, now looked positively furious, and for a moment Benji couldn't read him, nor could he decipher Jimmy's next move. The wheat-haired boy suddenly lost full use of his voice when Jimmy's hands shot out and grabbed him hard on the shoulders, and he couldn't think anymore, couldn't breathe.

No…Jimmy wouldn't hurt him. Jimmy would never hurt him. Jimmy was someone he could trust.

Right?

RIGHT?!

All of a sudden, Jimmy yelped in pain and pulled away from Benji so quickly that for a moment, the small boy thought that the seventeen-year-old's head was on fire. A series of squeaks suddenly echoed in the room, and Benji looked over his shoulder to see Dolores poking her head out from the back of his shirt, squealing up a storm as she snapped angrily in Jimmy's direction.

_Back off_, the rat seemed to say. _Leave my master alone!_

The tension broke in the room, and Jimmy reverted back to his old self—his old, now stunned self.

He had almost hurt Benji. After making that promise to Meela to protect the boy, he had almost hurt him. What had he been thinking? He looked away from Benji, unable to look him in the eye because if he did…well, he wasn't quite sure what he would do.

"Ben, I gotta go." With that, Jimmy opened the door and walked out of the room, forcing himself not to look back.

"J-Jim," Benji began. "Jim, wait…!"

But he had already left.

In the silence, Dolores squeaked loudly on Benji's shoulder, begging for another treat.

----------

**Read and review.**


	19. Observation 19: Vertigo

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: Cedric Roberts is someone you should know if you've read_ Next Contestant_. However, if you didn't, then he's one of the twelve-year-old Jocks. He has a slight rivalry with Benji due to both of them liking Karen Johnson. Marty Corelli is a thirteen-year-old Greaser.

**Observation Nineteen: Vertigo **

Clad in his yellow, Nerd-like gym wear, Jimmy yawned in boredom as he watched young Cedric Roberts hoist his heavy body up the rope climb.

"Remember, Roberts!" Mr. Beckham yelled supportively. "If you fall, there's a bunch of Comfy-Cozy pillows set at the bottom of the rope climb! But just be careful, okay?"

"Yes, Coach!"

_Ugh_, Jimmy thought dazedly. _This is so NOT fun._ Normally the seniors and juniors were supposed to start their gym class at this session of the day, but the younger children had been scheduled to partake in Mr. Beckham and Miss Hydee's semi-annual health fitness test beforehand, which consisted of the underclassmen doing everything from running laps to climbing long, merciless ropes in a matter of minutes. While the conditions for the tests varied, everything depended on one key principle.

You either passed the exercises, or you failed the entire examination with horrible results.

While the Jocks and Jocks-to-be enjoyed such events, the less-coordinated little boys and girls were dismayed, even if it _did_ get them out of their last period class. The chances of them failing the fitness test were HUGE, and the future Nerds nearly had a mental breakdown at the thought of the oncoming torture they would receive from Jock-ish boys like Cedric.

As for guys like Jimmy, he honestly couldn't care less. The whole situation was ridiculously boring, and he couldn't understand why he was stuck watching the shrimps fail at jumping over the three feet bars over and over and over again. For some reason, however, Gary was particularly interested.

"It all boils down to a science, Jimmy boy," Gary explained cheerfully, as he picked at a stray thread in his gray-and-blue gym wear. "This—" he made a sweeping gesture to the exhausted little kids "—is the grand future of the academy. This is the event where the Jocks are separated from Nerds. Where the Greasers and Preps are revealed for who they really are. No one can hide what their true clique is _here_, no matter how much they want to mix and match."

And this was true. Despite the depressing reality of those words, Jimmy looked around, and saw that Darcy Harrington was indeed dressed in the light blue gym apparel of the Preps. There was thirteen-year-old Marty Corelli, dressed in the dark blue shirt and dark brown shorts of the Greasers. The no-clique students wore dark teal mixed with black shorts, while the Nerds dressed in their standard yellow and green, as did the Jocks in their gray-and-blue.

But…

"There's Benji!" Petey exclaimed, his eyes wide as he pointed to a group of small boys that were stationed at the archery exercise. Jimmy turned, and saw the wheat-blond child holding a bow and arrow with deadly precision as he concentrated on the red target that was twenty feet away.

It was here where Jimmy blinked in confusion; unlike the other students, Benji was wearing a white gym shirt, and beige shorts. Instead of glasses, the small boy had on his prescription swimming goggles, and despite him being in the center of a group of admiring students, Benji stood out like a sore thumb. Jimmy couldn't understand why it had taken so long for him to notice this.

Meanwhile, Gary shook his head in disbelief. "Archery," he muttered. "Really, they should just give that crap to the girls. When the hell would a _guy_ even need to shoot a bow and arrow in this day and age?"

"You never know," Petey argued. "And it's not just something for _girls_, Gary. It's a unisex sport. Medieval fairs still hold archery competitions. It's an aristocratic event."

"In case you've forgotten, medieval times are dead. And none of us here are _aristocrats_, femme boy. Not even the Preps can call themselves that now."

Petey sighed in defeat, dropping the argument before it could turn heated. Instead, he turned his attention back to Benji, and clicked his tongue at the boy's outfit. "That's not the standard gym wear," Petey mumbled, tugging at his own teal-and-black uniform. "Wonder why he's wearing _that_?"

_I'm wondering too_, Jimmy thought privately as Benji shot another arrow straight into the bull's eye. The girls (along with Pedro) cheered, while the surrounding boys gave him looks of envy. Miss Hydee seemed ecstatic, and even complimented Benji on his aim. Gary, however, merely snorted in contempt.

"You don't get it, do you, Petey?" the unstable sociopath sneered. "It's perfectly obvious why Shortman's dressed like that."

"What do you mean?"

"Shortman's _poor_, you idiot. He can barely afford the crappy school uniform as it is. Hell, I don't even think he can afford food for that disgusting rat of his—I heard that he had to sell his silver eyeglasses to buy some crappy sweater for some woman. Do you really think he'll buy a _gym_ outfit with _his_ budget? Besides, Beckham and Hydee don't care what the hell their students wear for gym, as long as it's a shirt, some shorts, and a pair of sneakers."

"Shut up," Jimmy said suddenly, trying to block out the tightening feeling in his chest. "Stop talking about Ben, okay? I don't want to hear his name right now."

Gary and Petey exchanged glances, before the former let out a quiet chuckle. "Ah, sorry there, Jimmy boy. I forgot that you and Shortman are having a lovers' spat at the moment."

"It's not a lovers' spat, you sick pervert. I just don't want to talk to Ben." Jimmy frowned as he remembered what Benji had told him in their last conversation.

Damn kid. What the hell did he know? He was just a smart-ass brat who couldn't keep his mouth shut at the right times. Stupid brat. Stupid, stupid brat.

…

_I kinda miss him._

"You haven't talked to that shrimp in days," Gary said suddenly, snapping Jimmy back to reality. "God, you've been acting all mopey too, ever since you guys argued. What the hell did he say to you to get you all riled up? Because I'd _love _to know…"

"Shut your mouth, Gary, before I reach over and rip your goddamn tongue out!"

"Geez!" Gary backed away from Jimmy, who looked ready to kill. "Aren't you a touchy little bitch? Even Petey doesn't get this pissy, even when he's on his PMS!"

" Gary!" Petey yelped. "That's not true!"

Suddenly, there was a loud yell. Over to the far end of the gym, Cedric Roberts stretched his right arm forward, straining to grab at the tiny silver bell that was attached to the ceiling. "I'm…almost…there!" Cedric panted, trying to hold on to the thick rope with one hand while grabbing wildly at the bell with the other. "K-Karen! Are you watching me?"

"Uh-huh!" Karen replied absentmindedly, as she watched Benji shoot another arrow into the bull's eye. "Whoo! Nice shot, Benji!"

"Come on, Roberts!" Coach Beckham cheered, as several of the senior Jocks nodded their heads in approval. "Just tap that bell and slide on down! You have the fastest time in your age group so far, and you didn't even wet your pants yet!"

"Does he have to rub it in?" Pedro sniffed, trying to hike up his _new_, much larger pair of gym shorts. His first soggy pair had been pulled off and sent away by Gloria Jackson, who looked none too pleased as she headed off towards the laundry room with several giggling girls in tow. "It's not my fault I had an accident while I was halfway up!"

"Crybaby," Gary muttered.

There was a tinkling of a bell, along with the rowdy roars of the older Jocks, which signified the end of Cedric's climb. "All right, Roberts!" Damon cried, punching a fist into the air. "Nice job!"

The twelve-year-old slid briskly back down to the ground, where his feet touched the padded floor with a loud thud. "Who's the man, huh?" Cedric yelled as he gave high-fives to the other Jocks. "No one can beat me in the twelve-and-under category! OH YEAH!"

"Under the minute mark, Roberts!" Beckham cheered, writing the results down on a clipboard. "Nice job there! Okay…who's next?" The gym teacher checked his list, before he grinned and lifted his head. "Ben! You're up!"

"Up for what?" Benji yelled back, pulling back another arrow with ease as he aimed.

"Up for what? Up for what? The rope climb, silly!"

Suddenly, Benji's arm quivered and his shot flew several feet off the mark, sailing clear over the target and straight into the wall of the gym. The surrounding girls gasped, especially Darcy, Karen, and Gloria, the last of which having returned from delivering Pedro's dirty laundry.

"Benjamin, what happened?" Gloria demanded, her eyes narrowing from behind her glasses. "Your mark was twenty degrees off from the target!"

"You missed horribly," Darcy complained, pouting childishly. "Even Gord could do a better job, and he's a pathetic marksman!"

"Please stop making fun of my masculinity!" Gord called out from the senior side of the gym. "I am in no way feminine! I am one hundred percent male, as proven by my male genitalia—OH MY GOODNESS!" The Prep shrieked as he looked down on his gym wear. "The color of my shorts is _fading_! And my shirt is becoming stained with _perspiration_! Someone, get me some bleach! Detergent! FABRIC SOFTENER!"

Darcy crossed her arms, and smirked haughtily. "I rest my case."

Meanwhile, Karen watched Benji nervously. "Um, are you okay, Benji?" the young Jock asked worriedly. "You look a little pale…"

Jimmy had to disagree. Benji didn't look a little pale—he looked_ very_ pale. He looked as if all of his blood had suddenly been drained from his face, and had no way of returning ever again.

The wheat-haired boy didn't reply to Karen. Instead, he clutched tightly at his bow, and yelled in a shaking voice, "Um, Mr. Beckham? Can I skip the rope climb? I don't want to do it."

"What?!" Both Mr. Beckham and Miss Hydee stared at Benji in shock, as well as all of the non-Nerd students. Normally, only uncoordinated boys such as Earnest Jones and Thad Carlson would try to get out of gym activities, but up until now, Benji had been an active participant. He usually did everything he was told to do, usually without complaint.

Until now.

"Shortman, what is the meaning of this?" Miss Hydee said sternly from behind her spectacles. "Don't be a moppet, boy. Go over there and climb that thick rope!"

"Nuh-uh." Benji shook his head, and stared firmly at the ground. "No. I won't do it. You can't make me."

"What'sa matter, Shortman?" Cedric said snootily, seizing an opportunity to humiliate Benji. "You too chicken to climb a stinkin' rope?"

"Yes." Judge, jury, and executioner—Benji played them all with his short, simple statement.

"Chicken! Chicken! Buck-buck-buck!" Cedric and several other male Jocks laughed at Benji while they danced around him, flapping their arms. The girl Jocks looked dismayed, and they tried to convince Benji to climb, especially Karen. However, neither the taunting nor the pleading affected Benji in the slightest, and the wheat-haired boy continued to stare at the ground.

"All right, Shortman," Miss Hydee said firmly, her arms crossing over her chest. "Let's stop these little games, okay? Just go over to Mr. Beckham, and climb the damn rope."

Benji paused, before he shook his head. "No."

Here, Jimmy had to give the kid credit. No one had ever—_ever_—said no to Miss Hydee before and lived. Maybe they could get away with it when she was in her "Lady Jacqueline" persona. Maybe then. But never as Miss Hydee.

Miss Hydee, on her part, looked absolutely furious. Clearly, she did not like having anyone disobey her orders, whether they were man or child. "_Now_, Shortman. Get over there—_now_."

"_No._"

"I said now!"

"No!"

"Why you—"

"Jackie! For the love of god, calm down!" From behind, Mr. Beckham grabbed Miss Hydee by her arms and held her back as she kicked and screamed and strained to get at Benji, who in turn was _still_ staring at the ground with a pale, frightened look.

But whether he was afraid of Miss Hydee or something _else_…that was the question.

"Let me at him, Daniel!" Miss Hydee yelled, kicking at the air haplessly as she twisted to get free. "Damn it man! LET ME GO! I'll have at him for disrespecting my authority!"

"Oh, Jackie!" Mr. Beckham sighed, before he gave a pleading look towards Benji. "Come on, Ben! Just climb the rope. I promise, if you do it, I'll never ask you to climb it again until summer!"

"Peachy," Benji mumbled. "I have to do it again in a few months? _Wonderful_…"

"If you don't, you fail," Cedric sneered, sounding a bit too happy.

"So?"

Marty Corelli scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. "Benji, if you don't even attempt to climb, you fail the entire course."

Benji blinked. "Excuse me?"

"He said you'll fail if you don't climb, Shortman!" Gary shouted from the senior end of the gym. "I'm sure that with an academic scholarship on the line, failing is _not_ an option, right?"

Silence.

Karen paused hesitantly, before she reached out and touched Benji's stiffened shoulders. "Benji…it's not that hard. The girls already did it, and I'm sure that you can too. Why, Jimmy did the climb with the fastest time, and—"

"Karen," Benji cut in, "don't talk about Jimmy." Ignoring the astonished look that Karen gave him; he walked off towards the rope climb, looking even more ashen-faced than before. As he made his way towards the rope, he passed by Jimmy, stopping momentarily to stare at the older boy unfathomably through the dark shades of his prescription swimming goggles. Then, he moved on without a word.

Gary couldn't watch this without commenting. "You must have really hurt his little feelings, Hopkins. He didn't even say a word to you…"

Jimmy didn't reply.

Benji reached the base of the rope climb, kicking aside several pillows that were laid on the ground that served as both padding and safety cushions should the climber fall. The small boy tentatively grasped the thick, sinewy rope, yanking at it hesitantly as if to test its strength.

"It's fine, Shortman!" Damon yelled rudely. "Just climb the damn thing already! I wanna play dodgeball!"

Jimmy heard Benji snort quietly. "Asshole," the wheat-haired boy grumbled.

"You ready, Ben?" Mr. Beckham asked, still keeping a worried eye on Miss Hydee as pulled out his stopwatch. "Anytime you're ready…"

"I'll never be ready for this," Benji snapped, his fists clenching at the rope in anger. "However, since I have no choice but to take this _stupid_ examination…start the clock."

"…"

"Well? START THE CLOCK!"

Mr. Beckham pushed the button on his stopwatch, and Jimmy watched as Benji began to hoist himself up the rope with shaking arms. _One…two…three… _

"Look at that," Petey murmured softly. "Benji's trying to climb with his eyes closed…"

And this was true. The small boy was slowly advancing to the top, but his eyes were tightly shut, and every inch of Benji's skin seemed to grow paler and paler with each passing second.

"Huh," Jimmy heard Gary whisper. "Well, _this_ is interesting…"

"Go, Benji!" Karen squealed, much to the displeasure of Cedric Roberts. "You can do it! I know you can!"

"Come on, Benji-poo!" Darcy yelled. "You'd better finish this faster than any other boy here!"

"Benjamin, be careful!" Gloria cried. "If you fall, you have a high possibility of fracturing several of the bones in your neck!"

_You're not really helping,_ Jimmy thought awkwardly as he watched Benji agonizingly pull himself all the way to the top._ Ben, just a little further. Just reach your arm out and touch the bell… _

"HEY, SHORTMAN!" Gary suddenly yelled, startling everyone in the room and stopping Benji just before his fingertips touched the bell. "WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LOOK DOWN!"

"Wha…?" At the sound of Gary's voice, Benji opened his eyes and instinctively looked down. Jimmy watched with shock as the small boy's eyes widened in horror, and he began to swing and sway dangerously on the rope. "Oh no, oh no, oh no…HELP!"

"Benji!" Mr. Beckham dropped the stopwatch and hovered near the bottom of the rope worriedly. "Oy! Just calm down, my boy! Just take deep, _deep_ breaths, and slowly climb down…"

"Shortman!" Miss Hydee yelled. "If you feel dizzy, then just let go of the rope and fall! We'll catch you!"

"HEEEEEEELP! I'M GONNA DIE!" Benji's hands gripped the rope so tightly that the knuckles turned white. He looked around wildly, eyes wide and dilated, and Jimmy saw that the boy no longer seemed to realize where he was. "HELP ME! AAAAAAGGGH!"

The small boy suddenly lost his grip on the rope and fell rapidly through the air, screaming. Before he knew what he was doing, Jimmy dashed towards the boy, diving and catching the flailing child just before they both tumbled into a nest of Comfy-Cozy pillows.

Unfortunately, Benji still didn't stop his panic attack. He continued to scream and flail in Jimmy's arms, his eyes still wild and unseeing as he fought to get away. "LET GO!" Benji shrieked. "I DON'T WANNA DIE! LET GO!"

"Ben!" Jimmy shook the small child desperately, trying to snap him out of his nightmare. This was ridiculous—usually Benji had to be asleep before he went into a hysterical tantrum, but _this_…this was just downright disturbing. "Ben, wake up! You're not gonna die! Wake up!"

Jimmy slapped the small boy forcefully across the face, and suddenly, Benji snapped out of it. Panting and trembling, he looked up at only Jimmy, as if he suddenly didn't notice the rest of the students that were crowding around him. "W-what happened?" he whispered softly, his voice quivering.

"I…I don't know."

Benji swallowed nervously, and slowly pulled himself out of Jimmy's grasp. Staring at Mr. Beckham, Miss Hydee, and the rest of the astonished students, Benji forced a terrible smile on his face. "I'm sorry, everyone," he said in a too cheerful tone. "I should have mentioned that I have vertigo. Forgive me for the inconvenience."

With that, he turned on his heel and headed out of the gym, stepping into the cold weather in only his shirt and shorts despite the fact that it was snowing.

For the next ten minutes, no one said a word.

-----------------

**Read and review. Christmas is coming… **


	20. Observation 20 'Benji': Winter

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar.

A/N: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas…yeah, right. Yup, it's a Benji chapter!

I will only say this ONCE: If someone copies anything from this story without my approval or without at least crediting me, I will be very, VERY upset.

**Observation Twenty (Benji): Winter **

_"Have you ever felt the tingle of snow on your cheek? Have you ever stretched your hand to grasp a twirling snowflake?" _

- Carol M. Harris, **_Snow for the Queen_**

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At two in the afternoon, Jimmy, Gary, and Petey—like the assholes they were—decided that it was the perfect time to drag me out of my nice warm bed, straight onto the freezing, dusty wooden floor. Dolores, who had been sleeping soundly on my chest, squeaked in fear and disappeared under my pillow for protection.

"Rise and shine!" Gary said cheerfully, as Jimmy yanked the covers out of my grip. "Come on, Shortman! You can't sleep all day, even if it _is_ a Saturday!"

I growled and furiously wrenched my crust covered eyes open, looking up at a grinning Gary, a smiling Petey, and a smirking Jimmy with a murderous glare. "You're all sadists!" I shrieked, squinting in the sunlight as I tried and failed to reach for my blankets. "My god, what the hell is that…I'm going blind." I rolled over on my stomach and laid flat on the cold floor, refusing to move even an inch as Petey pleaded with me to get up.

Nope. I'm not going to move. I finally get a decent night's sleep after that humiliating event at the rope climb, and what does Jimmy "Slut King" Hopkins do to me? He wakes me up! HE WAKES ME UP!

You know, I was one day away from finally deciding to apologize to him for calling him a whore. Seriously, I was _this_ close, especially since he's been borderline nice to me after the accident on the rope climb. But now? The Slut King can forget it! I'm not moving! I'm gonna lie here like a dead fish until he goes away!

Take that, asshole! You're not the boss of me, Jimmy!

Suddenly, I felt a warm hand touch the top of my head. By instinct my body tensed up, and I slowly turned my head to the side…only to see Jimmy kneeling next to me, his face still wearing that arrogant smirk.

God, what the hell was _he_ so goddamn happy about?

"You know, Ben," Jimmy said to me coyly, "if I didn't know you better, I'd think you were a drunk, the way you wake up in the morning."

"For your information, Jim, I have low blood pressure. I need a lot of sleep. Now get the fuck out of my room." I jerked my head out of Jimmy's grasp and turned my gaze away from him, pressing my cheek hard against the frozen wooden boards that made up my bedroom floor.

Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could feel Jimmy's eyes boring into the back of my skull. He was getting frustrated. "Seriously," Jimmy said in an annoyed tone, "what's your deal? Every other kid your age is living it up in the snow right now. Even Pedro's out there in the snowball fight, and he's known as the champion pussy bed wetter of Bullworth."

"Tell him to go back to sleep," I grumbled. "He'll feel a lot better, believe me. Besides, I hate the cold. Leave me out of it."

"You're kidding."

"I kid you not. I hate everything about winter. I hate the blistering winds that send chills to every inch of my body. I hate the biting frosts that rob every bit of heat from my bones. There is no safe haven outside during the months of December to February, and throughout those torturous ordeals of sub-zero temperatures, I force myself to bundle up in eight pairs of socks, six sweaters, three pants, two pairs of gloves, and several hats and scarves to keep myself from freezing to death. You think I wanna do that _today_? Hell no. Goodnight."

"Oh, come on Benji," I heard Petey plead. "You're being overdramatic."

"Go away, Peter."

"The other guys are gonna think you're a vagina for missing the annual Snowball War of the year," Gary warned. "Even Femme Boy here doesn't miss it…"

"HEY!"

"Fuck off, Gary," I snapped, as Petey gave Gary a hurt look.

"So you're really not gonna move, Ben?" Jimmy asked me, his voice suddenly calm and soft.

Calm and soft. Jimmy was speaking in a calm and soft voice. That's not exactly a good combination for him. Should I be worried? Still, I found myself telling him the truth. "No." I said stupidly. "I'm not going to move. If you want me to get up, you're going to have to _make_ me get up."

I heard Jimmy sigh. "Well. If that's how you feel about it, Ben…you leave me no choice."

No choice? What the hell was that supposed to—

"OH SHIT!" Jimmy, in one solid move, hoisted me up from the floor and slung me over his shoulder like a sack of flour. "Jim, you ASSHOLE!" I screamed, as I kicked and pounded helplessly at his back. "Put me down! I swear, I'll report you and Gary and maybe Peter for statutory rape! PUT—ME—DOWN! _OW_!"

I yelped when Jimmy reached the bathroom, and dumped my poor body right into one of the shower cubicles. Reaching over my head, he turned on the faucets, releasing a spray of hot water which immediately poured onto my half-frozen body.

Let me tell you something. Cold skin meeting hot water does not feel pleasant at all! It burns! It buuuuurns!

"Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow, OW!" I hopped around in the shower, still fully clothed, trying desperately to fiddle with the knobs to get the right temperature. Outside the cubicle, I could hear Jimmy laughing at me.

"So Ben!" he said cheerfully. "I guess you're not sleepy anymore, eh?"

"Jim, shut your goddamn mouth! I'm still mad at you!"

"Uh-huh. Sure you are."

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M DISTRAUGHT!"

-------------

_"…I think news papers are largely responsible for the bad English now used in books. How few novels of the day are written in correct English! To find any such, you must go back 50 years or more. That is one reason why I like reading the **older** novels." _

- Lewis Carroll, **_Letters_**

-------------

"You can't be serious, Brakus."

"I'm _always_ serious, Shortman."

With the latest edition of my comic Constantinos's hands, I glanced up at the Grecian boy in disbelief. "You can't do this to me. You can't censor my work!"

"I'm the chief editor, Shortman," Constantinos snapped, his eyes narrowing at me in dislike. "I'm responsible for all of the articles that get sent in to me. Crabblesnitch had a fit when he saw the gore in the preview edition I sent him. You need to edit your comic, or else he'll shut us down."

"Oh, come on!" I cried in protest. "Just because Jordan snapped Darvin Farrington's neck like a twig doesn't mean that it's gory! He spared Jonathan Vercelli's life! And it's not about the killing. This comic is supposed to show the corruption that exists amongst the people of society. It's supposed to show a truth that no one wants to admit to themselves, because it shows that human beings are, in a sense, no better than animals."

Constantinos glared at me infuriatingly, before he shoved the comic back into my hands. "Change it," he sneered, "or else I will remove your story from print."

For a moment, I said nothing. I simply gripped at the pieces of pencil drawn papers that were in my mitten covered hands, before I looked back up at Constantinos with a terribly forced smile on my face. "If you remove my papers from print, then you should remove your articles too."

"What the hell are you talking about—"

"Articles on the Jocks for winning some stupid competition? Pages of praise for the Preps for donating some stupid building to the school that no one will ever use? This isn't a newspaper—this is garbage! Kiss-ass garbage of false commendations!"

"Those aren't my articles!" the Grecian boy snapped, his face becoming livid. "_My_ articles always end up on the editing room floor! I tried to report on Edna's gross and possibly lethal tuna casserole for years, but Crabblesnitch said no. I tried to show the true face of the Preps and Greasers for the scumbags they truly are, but the Preps threatened to sue me, and the Greasers beat me up!"

I stared at him in shock. "But we're journalists!" I yelled. "We're supposed to report true events!"

Constantinos snorted in my face, and shook his head. "Kid, what world are you living in? You seriously think that the world actually gives a crap about the news anymore? Do you realize how corrupted several of the American news shows are now?"

"That doesn't mean we have to follow their example."

"Pfft. Whatever, Shortman. You believe whatever you want. But you can forget about me publishing your comic. And I don't want to hear about how many readers we're going to lose!" he added nastily to Algie and Trevor, who had both been watching the entire fight with wide eyes.

-------------

_Say whose is the skill that paints valley and hill, _

_Like a picture so fair to the sight? _

_That flecks the green meadow with sunshine and shadow, _

_Till the little lambs leap with delight? _

- Lewis Carroll, **_Sylvie and Bruno Concluded_**

-------------

Paintings are more than just colors that are arranged into pretty patterns.

There are all kinds of symbolism in the colors. Red, orange and black show vivid and striking emotions, depicting boldness and strength in a more than beautiful manner. A deadly grace, if you could call it that. Softer colors, like blue and yellow and green, depict grace. Tranquility. These are the colors used for the sky, the landscapes, and the trees. These colors touch the more sentimental aspects of the emotional palette, and thus I was able to fully make use of these aspects to make the perfect Christmas presents for Karen and Gloria.

Gloria is a strong, ambitious girl who impresses me greatly with her vast intellect. In most cases, she knows what she wants and she knows how to get it. She is a force to be reckoned with, and in the future, I believe there is a very strong possibility that she will be the clique leader for the Nerds.

That's why I painted her with autumn foliage.

The season, the colors…they're all perfect for Gloria. In my painting, she is sitting on the floor of a forest in autumn, reading quietly as she relaxed amongst the changing colors of the falling leaves. Though she is wearing only a modest beige dress, the red and orange compliment her striking features perfectly, and the yellow colors highlight the beauty of her smooth, dark skin.

She is truly beautiful. And she is indeed the Autumn Metamorphosis.

But Karen…

Karen has a softer personality, despite being a Jock. She's more kind, more understanding to me than Gloria is. It's so much easier to talk to her, and I feel more secure around her than I do with Gloria. And, unlike Gloria, Karen doesn't pressure me too much to join the Jocks. Gloria's constantly hounding me to join the Nerds permanently, but Karen…while she _does_ want me to join the Jocks, and she does show some reluctance when it comes to standing up to her clique, she sincerely likes me.

She's like the Spring Bloom.

In her portrait, Karen is walking around in a white shirt and a pair of white shorts. The grass is painted a lovely shade of light green, with tiny flowers peeking through the grass, opening their petals for the first time in the spring sun.

The sky above her head is a lovely cerulean blue. The sea behind her is a roaring mass of white and navy.

-------------

_…the princess went to see the court wizard. "You can do all kinds of magical things," she said. "So you must do some magic for me. I want a special new palace." _

_But the wizard was very wise. That's why he was a wizard. "You have a very beautiful palace," he said. "The birds are singing like flutes and the wildflowers are blooming like rainbows. Besides, I am very busy now. I am busy driving away a dragon that is frightening an entire town." _

_"I don't care about the entire town!" cried the princess. And she stuck out her tongue and stomped away very, very angrily. _

- Ruth A. Sakri, **_A Palace for the Princess_**

-------------

"What is it?" Darcy replied, looking at the paint canvas with curiosity.

I pulled back the white sheet that covered the picture, and revealed a painting of a beautiful little girl dressed in light blue. Her mocha colored hair was tied into an elegant bun, and she smiled almost dangerously with her pale pink lips and her pale blue eyes.

"It's you," I said quietly, as Darcy went into peals of delight. "Consider this as your early Christmas present."

"You made me look like a princess!" Darcy squealed, throwing her arms around me tightly. "Oh, Benji-poo! But…this isn't the only thing you're giving me, are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, surely you're not just going to give me one measly little painting as a Christmas present? I'm a high maintenance girl, you know!"

"Of course," I said dryly. "Maybe I should sell my soul to get you a pair of diamond earrings as well?"

"REALLY?" The Harrington heiress went into peals of absolute delight. "Oh, Benji-poo! I'd _love_ a pair of diamond earrings!"

I slapped a hand to my forehead.

The need to scream at her selfishness was growing by the second. But I couldn't do that. To do such a thing would mean going back to Edna's cooking and saying goodbye to high class foods. I flat out refuse to do that. Call me a gluttonous pig if you will, but I don't care as long as I get fed properly.

To calm myself down, I focused on the painting I had given her. Yes, I had made the girl in the picture beautiful because Darcy was, essentially, a beautiful girl. However, the background was substantially different from my other works.

Behind the girl was a palace. It was truly a wonderful palace. It sparkled like diamonds and shone like the brightest stars. But the reason for that was because everything in the palace was made entirely of snow and ice, nothing else.

There is a tale of a selfish princess who asked a wizard for a palace that was made after her own heart. She kept bothering him for months until she finally threatened to throw him out of her kingdom if he didn't comply with her wishes. And the wizard, being a wise man, did exactly what she told him to do. He gave her a palace made of ice, which was indeed fashioned after the princess's own heart.

-------------

_"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. _

_"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat. "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." _

_"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice. _

_"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here." _

- Lewis Carroll, **_Alice's Adventures in Wonderland _**

-------------

Several of the little kids were forced—I mean, _volunteered_ by the teachers to help decorate the giant Christmas tree that was stationed in the school lobby. I was one of the "volunteers," along with Karen, Gloria, Lance Jackson, and several of the Nerds.

But you know, when I found out that Ms. Philips would be helping us decorate, I suddenly started to appreciate the beauty that only a properly decorated Christmas tree could bring forth…

Jimmy told me that the giant Christmas tree was sort of a new thing, as the school usually used a bunch of normal sized trees instead of one mega-sized one, but I liked it. It kinda reminded me of the tree that was in New York, the one set in Rockefeller Center. Beautiful, brightly decorated, and near impossible to miss.

With such an image imprinted in my mind, it was easy to picture what I wanted for the tree.

"We need more red ribbons at the top," Ms. Philips said decidedly, looking at the sketch I oh-so-helpfully drew ahead of time. "We've used too much silver tinsel, too. Some gold coloring here and there would be nice…"

"Of course!" I cried, blushing as I grabbed a handful of golden tinsel and wrapped it haphazardly around the bottom of the enormous tree. "Gold tinsel! You're a genius, Ms. Philips! I should have thought of using more golden tinsel! I'm so foolish!"

"Only when you're around Ms. Philips," Karen muttered to herself.

"What was that, Karen?"

"It's nothing, Benji!"

"You know, Benjamin," Gloria said suddenly, pushing herself between me and Karen, "I've wanted to talk to you about what happened last week during physical education class. Can we talk now?"

"Huh?" I wasn't paying attention. Ms. Philips had just touched my hair affectionately to commend me for my fine tinsel-decorating work, and my brain was currently in a state of mush.

Gloria huffed indignantly, before she turned to her brother Lance, and said loudly, "Lance? I need a favor! I want you to stick up the plastic gingerbread men around the bottom of the tree for me!"

"C-can this wait?" Lance yelled from the top of the ladder. He was attempting to stick some plastic candy canes onto the top branches, but Donald was doing a lousy job of holding the ladder properly. Thankfully, there were a bunch of Comfy-Cozy pillows on the floor around him, in case he fell.

And before you start asking, yes, I said _plastic_ candy canes and _plastic _gingerbread men. Apparently, the Bullworth boys have a real problem with stealing the cookies and candy canes right off of Christmas trees. Gross! The real cookies and candy canes must be at least three years old. How can they _eat_ crap like that?

"Humph!" Gloria stuck her nose in the air arrogantly, before she shoved the box of gingerbread men into Algie's unsuspecting hands. "Come on, Benjamin," she said to me in a professional, no-nonsense tone. She drew me around to the back of the tree, and made me sit down on a plastic chair that had been set up for temporary rest for the "volunteers." She pulled out another plastic chair, and made me put my feet up on the second chair.

Huh. Awkward.

Fatty came towards us, notepad and pen in hand. Gloria stood next to him, and I could see the blank pad reflected in her glasses.

"How are we feeling today?" Fatty asked.

We? "I'm fine," I said slowly. "Never better."

In the reflection of Gloria's glasses, I saw Fatty write down CLASSIC DENIAL.

"No really, I'm fine," I insisted. "Everything's been peachy. The Jocks finally shut up about the rope climbing thing ever since we won the swim meet against Polka-mon Preparatory School. And I'm gonna see my momma right after school ends for winter vacation. Man, that'll be great. I love her more than life, you know."

Fatty wrote down INTENSE LOVE FOR MOTHER: UNHEALTHY ATTATCHMENT?

"Hey!" I yelled. "I do not have an unhealthy attachment to Meela! I just haven't seen her in a long time, and I really miss her!"

"Why do you call your mother by her first name?" Gloria asked curiously. "That's quite an uncommon practice."

"It shows how much Meela and I trust and respect each other, okay? Of course, I just wish Jim would stop seeing her behind my back. I mean, I know it doesn't mean anything, but I'm starting to get really uncomfortable with him always asking about my momma. I mean, Jim's a great guy and all, but sometimes…" I faltered off.

Fatty wrote down JIMMY—COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP? POSSIBLE PARANOIA OF LOSING FAMILY MEMBER TO BEST FRIEND?

Okay. Now I was getting mad. "Look," I snapped. "There's nothing wrong with me! I just freaked out a little when rope climbing. It can happen to anyone!"

"What's going on?" Karen poked her head around the back of the giant Christmas tree, and her eyes widened when she saw me. "Benji? What're you doing?"

"We're trying to help Benjamin discover the root of his acrophobia," Gloria snapped, her dark eyes narrowing at Karen in displeasure. "Just leave us alone, Johnson."

"Discover the root of—oh, Gloria!" Karen sighed, and slapped a hand to her forehead. "Tell me you and Fatty aren't playing psychiatrist again!"

"We're not playing!" Fatty whined, jutting out his bottom lip in a fierce pout. "We're being absolutely serious here, Karen! We just want to help!"

Karen sighed, and shook her head at her second cousin. "Oh, Francois…"

"Look," I said as I got up from the chairs. "I'm fine, so can we go back to decorating? I mean, we still have the top half to finish. If we don't," I joked, "evil space aliens will come out from space and eat our brains while we're asleep."

Silence.

Fatty wrote down LOONEY TUNES.

"I was just kidding!" I shrieked. "Jesus, can't you all just take a joke? What is wrong with all of you?"

Karen fidgeted. "Benji, we're just worried about you," she said softly. "I mean, even the other Jocks are worried. They never saw anyone react to the rope climb the way you did. Not even the Nerds screamed like you did."

"Bah!" I snorted in disbelief, before I made my way back towards the tree and the ever sensual Ms. Philips. "Forget you all! I don't have acrophobia! I don't have a fear of heights! I have _vertigo_, which is merely a chemical imbalance that causes dizziness, and has nothing to do with fear whatsoever!"

I thought that would be enough to end the whole scenario. However, Gloria suddenly blocked my path, standing in front of me with a determined look on her face.

"Benjamin," she said severely, "if you really want to prove to us that you're okay, then do us a favor."

"What?" I asked irritably. I was really starting to get annoyed.

"Hang _this _star—" she brandished a shining, golden star from her pocket "—on the top of the tree, and I promise I'll drop this conversation completely."

"…oh." I blinked stupidly at the star. Hang the star, and she'd drop the whole thing. Well, it can't get any better than that, right? I took the star, and headed towards the ladder which Lance had just come down from. He was shaking and sweating as he tried to get the trembling in his legs to stop.

"It's…s-so…damn r-r-rickety," Lance stammered, clutching onto the leftover plastic candy canes.

"I said I was sorry!" Donald wailed. "I have unsteady grip when it comes to metallic ladders! I'm allergic to poorly made steel!"

I sighed, shaking my head at the sight as I grabbed hold of the bottom rung of the ladder, looking up at the top of the large tree. It was then I noticed how _high_ the damn thing actually was. Huh. I didn't think trees like that could even _fit_ in this school.

Oh shit. I suddenly felt like throwing up. I can't do this, I can't do this…

"Is there a problem, Benjamin?" Gloria asked smugly. I frowned, forcing the bile down in the back of my throat.

"No, Gloria. It's just that—that tree's got to be forty feet tall!"

"It is not, Benjamin! Thirty, maybe."

"Gee," I replied sarcastically. "That just makes me feel _so_ much better."

But inside, I felt like crap. Obviously I must have looked exactly how I felt, because Karen gave me this devastatingly worried look. "Gloria," she said nervously, "maybe we shouldn't. I mean, look at Benji! He looks horrible…"

"Thus he proves my thesis," Gloria replied. "He has acrophobia. End of story. Now, the only thing to prove is _why_ he has acrophobia…"

Oh, shut the hell up, Gloria! Sometimes, you really make me mad, you know that? "Acrophobia, my ass!" I yelled. "I'll show you all! I'll make it to the top!" I began to climb.

I don't think I reached even a quarter of the way before my body began to shake and tremble. Suddenly, I envisioned myself standing on top of my old apartment, with dad holding me tightly as we both looked down from the roof of the ten-story building. My arms and legs shook dangerously, turning into jelly as the world began to spin before my eyes. I was dying…no, I was _going_ to die…

I can't think of that again. I can't.

"Benji!" Karen cried. "Are you okay?"

I said nothing. Instead, I slowly climbed down, my head bowed low with shame. "T-this proves n-nothing," I mumbled shakily. Gloria looked triumphant; Fatty and Karen gave me consoling looks.

"It's all right, Benji," Fatty said reassuringly. "I mean, maybe you should go see the town psychiatrist. I heard he's a great guy. He can definitely solve your mental anxieties with heights…"

"Gary Smith goes there too," Karen continued. "And compared to how he was two years ago, he's much better than before!"

Oh no. Oh HELL no. They did not just compare me to _Gary Smith_, did they?

"I-I don't n-need a psychiatrist!" I stammered angrily. "I'm FINE!"

Gloria shook her head. "That's what Gary said, right before he brought the school into complete mayhem. Honestly, Benjamin, we don't want you to suffer the same fate. You're already depressed enough as it is. Now, maybe the psychiatrist can give you a prescription for anti-depressants."

I found myself slowly backing away from Gloria. "Y-you mean happy pills, don't you?!" I cried out in shock. They thought I was depressed? That I was crazy? I'M NOT CRAZY! I'M NOT!

"Who knows, Benjamin? Maybe you'll be able to uproot some deep, psychological trauma from your past! That would be quite the fascinating discovery—where are you going, Benjamin?!

I didn't answer. I simply ran screaming out of the school building, not stopping at all until I was safely in the confines of my dorm room with my rat, Dolores.

-------------

_In works of labor or of skill, _

_I would be busy too; _

_For Satan finds some mischief still _

_For idle hands to do. _

_- _Isaac Watts, **_Divine Songs Attempted in East Language for the Use of Children _**

-------------

Gary showed up in my room later that night. He was smiling at me from the doorway.

" Gary, leave me alone," I snapped.

He took a step towards me.

" Gary, I mean it!" I yelled angrily. I was not in the mood for his bullshit! "Seriously, cut it out! I'm really stressed right now, and I don't need you making things any worse for me!"

"Perfect!" Gary said, smirking. "Dude, that is so cool. Could you come over at my table for breakfast tomorrow, then? I want everyone to see me in the company of Berserker Ben."

I blinked. "Who?"

"That's you," Gary explained cheerfully. "Everybody knows about what you did earlier today. I heard how you flipped out in the lobby. I heard that the Nerds were so scared they had to be sedated by Nurse MacRae."

Oh god. "That's not true, jackass."

"Whatever, Shortman. But tell me—did you really swing from the florescent lights hanging by your teeth?"

"I didn't do anything!" I said exasperatedly. "For crying out loud! I just got a little freaked out because Gloria and Fatty and Karen wouldn't leave me alone!" I crossed my arms, and sniffed. "I lost precious bonding time with Ms. Philips because of them."

Gary snorted. "First off, Shortman, every boy in school has a crush on Ms. Philips at least once. Second off, I don't consider eating the frogs for science class to be a little freaked out."

"What?!"

"I even heard that you swallowed some of them alive. How does that feel, runt?"

My mouth was basically hitting the floor at this point. Where the hell did this shit come from? All I did was run out of the lobby! Okay, I ran out _screaming_ like a lunatic, that much is true, but where the hell did the rumor of me eating live frogs come from?

I shook my head to clear my mind of those thoughts. I didn't have time for this. I had to get ready to leave for my vacation with Meela. Without another word, I pointed to the door. "Get out, Gary."

"Oh, come on, Benji!" Gary held a hand to his heart, as if he felt hurt. "Don't cut our conversation short so quickly! I was thinking that we could finally _bond_, now that your relationship with Jimmy is on the rocks. I could carry your books for you…or are you thinking about tearing them apart with your teeth like you did in the lobby?" He sounded hopeful.

…it's official. Gary is a lunatic.

"You're not on your medication, are you?" I asked flatly.

"What does that matter, Shortman?"

"It makes all the difference. Get out."

-------------

_"Speak gently to the young, for they will have enough to bear. Pass through this life as best they may, 'tis full of anxious care." _

- David Bates, **_Collected Works _**

-------------

I redressed and stepped outside in the chilly night air, my boots making loud crunching noises in the icy snow as I slowly walked down the stone steps of the Boys' Dormitory. Bending over, I scooped up a handful of snow and patted it into a ball with my mitten-clad hands.

Thoughts of the Snowball War entered my mind. I remembered quickly building a fort with Sheldon and Pedro, while they distracted the older boys with different kinds of rock-filled snowballs. I remembered tossing two jam-filled snowballs at Gord and Adrian.

Ah, you know? I never thought a _boy_ could scream like that. Gord actually had to be sedated before he could calm down—the jam-stains on his new light blue Aquaberry parker was really horrendous, especially since I used boysenberry jam. Adrian was significantly less concerned with the state of his clothing, but I still had to hide when he attempted to track me down after an unconscious Gord was taken away.

But onto present matters. I sighed and dropped the snowball, letting it plop back onto the ground with a loud _squish_.

_SPLAT!_

I yelped as a cold, slushy snowball smacked me on the back of my head. I looked around, and my eyes widened when I saw Jimmy grinning evilly at me, tossing a snowball lightly in the air.

"So Ben," he said with a smirk. "I see you're getting used to the cold after all."

I blushed, and then gave Jimmy an angry stare. "Leave me alone, Jimmy." I was still unsure whether I was mad at him, or grateful that he was trying to open things back up between us.

For the meantime, I was stuck in the middle.

" Adrian's been getting a bit pushy, lately," Jimmy remarked. "I think he's trying to stalk you."

"I know." I had found a tiny camera in Dolores's cage the other night, and I had screamed several insults at it before finally flushing it down the toilet…after a nice, long bowel movement. It gives me the greatest pleasure to announce that Adrian gave me disgusted, nauseated looked for many days after.

"So. When are you gonna stop being mad at me?"

"I dunno. When are _you_ gonna get over the fact that I told you the truth about your promiscuity?"

Jimmy gave me a curious stare. "Promise-what?"

"…never mind."

I stared at my feet for a while, kicking aside a snow rock as Jimmy kept tossing his snowball in and out of his hand. Besides the sounds of the kids shrieking in the distance and the yells of some prefects for stray students to go to bed, it was basically silent between us.

Silence is fucking deafening.

I knew why we couldn't speak. We both _wanted_ to say sorry, but at the same time, we didn't want to be the _first _to say sorry. We wanted the _other_ to begin, because to personally admit that we've made a fault first…it's shameful. It's like taking a huge chunk out of our pride, and swallowing it whole. I can't do it. I'm a _man_, goddamn it!

"But we're okay," Jimmy suddenly said, breaking the thick silence that had settled between us. I found myself staring incredulously at him. It's always those little (gigantic) things that Jimmy says which reveal just how insecure he is, when he's unsure of what his next step should be.

I wish he'd go to Petey for these kinds of things. I'm only twelve, after all.

Strangely, I found myself replying in a soft, quiet voice. "Yeah. Sure. We're okay." Ironically, I found myself smiling. Nothing's been fixed—we've just chosen to ignore the problem.

But you know? I'm okay with that. At least with Jimmy around, I won't feel quite so alone.

"Hey, Ben." Jimmy suddenly raised his arm, and took aim at the head of a nearby prefect. "Twenty points if I can get this snowball to hit the guy in the head."

I snorted, and made a snowball of my own. "Fifty if you can get it right on his nose…or his scrotum."

-------------

**This took a really long time to write. I am really happy with what I wrote, and I want to see if you are too. So tell me what you think! Feedback is very much wanted here! **

**On a lighter note…who'dya think matches Benji the most? Darcy, Karen, or Gloria? I just wanna know for fun, since I already know who he's gonna end up with, but it's always interesting to see what you guys think. **

**Read and review. **


	21. Observation 21: Double Takes

Disclaimer: Bully is owned by Rockstar. _Stairway to Heaven _belongs to Led Zeppelin. _Granuaile's Dance_ was performed by Mairead Nesbitt.

A/N: How many people love Stewart Lee? I sure do! He's intelligent, has money, is devilishly evil…_and_ he wears a black suit! (Drools over black suit) Ahem, the Aquaberry twins make an appearance here…and there might be a hint of incest in their scene. That's what my beta told me, anyway.

The words in bold italics are twisted lyrics from the song, _Stairway to Heaven._ I love Led Zeppelin!

**Observation Twenty-One: Double Takes**

_In a tree by the brook there's a songbird who sings that sometimes, all of our thoughts are misgiving._

------------

He was starting to feel the pressure.

With Christmas just around the corner, Jimmy found himself practicing the song, _Stairway to Heaven_, more and more each night. At every mistake, he would replay the difficult chord on his guitar again and again until the notes were etched into his memory, until the rhythm was flowing from his cracked lips and bleeding fingers.

All over the school, the sounds of frantically performed music could be heard. Bucky's mediocre clarinet playing echoed through the frosty air as he practiced on the icy front steps of the library. Vance smashed his drum set loud and hard whenever he got a break from classes and bike work. Chad and Adrian were constantly playing the flute and piano in Harrington House, though Chad absolutely forbade Adrian from practicing during the same hours he did. Tad and Darcy, though not musicians, absolutely forbade Adrian from practicing, _period_.

Too bad the youngest Aquaberry heir had a selective hearing problem.

Jimmy winced as he heard the horrendous piano sounds of what was supposed to be _Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star_ coming from within the depths of Harrington House. Though Adrian had been assigned a children's song due to the fact that he had been transferred late into the Music class, the noise Jimmy now heard resembled that of an animal dying a slow, painful death.

There was no way that Adrian would be able to perform by Christmas. No freaking way.

"For god's sake, Adrian!" Tad screamed as he and several other Preps stomped out of Harrington House. "Give us a bloody break! Our eardrums are going to shatter at this rate, and then we'll all go deaf!"

Gord, who had an obnoxiously large pair of earplugs stuck in his ears, clicked his tongue nervously. "Seriously Tad, you should calm down. You're going to get wrinkles at an early age if you keep making those horrendous, putrid faces of anger…and then what would Pinky think?"

"Shut up, Vendome!" Tad yelled, blushing a shade of dark scarlet. "My relationship with Pinky is purely _platonic_!"

"What did you say, Tad? I'm afraid I can't hear you due to these earplugs!"

"I SAID SHUT UP, YOU MORONIC IMBECILE!"

"What?"

Tad's eye twitched dangerously, and the other Preps backed away a good ten feet from the short, stand-in Preppie leader. Some even walked out of Harrington House territory altogether. Gord, however, was blissfully unaware of everyone ducking for cover, and grinned all too innocently as Tad came towards him with a fixed, manic smile and a twitching eye.

Everyone was silent.

Then, Tad ripped one of Gord's earplugs out, and screamed directly into the brown-haired Prep's ear, "_I SAID __**SHUT UP**__, YOU MORONIC, RIDICULOUS, DUNCE OF AN IMBECILE! WHY YOU DEFEND THAT AQUABERRY NIGHTMARE, I'LL NEVER KNOW!!!_"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" Gord shrieked and jumped several feet away from Tad, rubbing furiously at his ear. "Oh my god! I'M DEAF! I can't hear anything other than my own screams and Adrian's horrendous piano playing!"

"…then doesn't that mean you're _not_ deaf?" Jimmy pointed out oh-so-helpfully.

"NO! I'm deaf, I tell you! DEAF!"

------------

_There's a sign on the wall, but read carefully and beware. Because sometimes words have two meanings._

------------

"Swimmers, on your mark! Get set! GO!"

Jimmy watched as Benji, Cedric Roberts, and several other boys dove headfirst into the freezing cold water. Petey, who was sitting next to him on the pool bleachers, shivered in his overcoat.

"Jesus," Petey murmured as the boys swam from one end of the pool and back. "How can they walk around half naked in this weather, let alone _swim_? The frost literally killed the furnace in this building…"

"I dunno, Pete. Jocks feel no pain, I guess? I mean, the football team _does_ smash into one other during practice. You gotta build _some _kind of immunity from all that hard hitting, right?"

Trembling with cold, Petey nodded in agreement, before he paused. "What about Benji?"

"What _about_ him?"

"Do you really consider him a Jock?"

Jimmy shrugged. "I dunno. He doesn't consider himself a Nerd either. Maybe I'll call him a Jord."

"A…what?"

"A Jord. You know…a person who acts like both a Jock and a Nerd. A Jord."

Petey blinked, before he shook his head. "Oh, Jimmy…"

"What? It makes sense! This will be the new revolution, Pete. For people showing talents of the Jocks and the Nerds, but doesn't exactly mesh with either of them, I'll call them the Jords!"

"Well," Petey said as-a-matter-of-factly, "I wouldn't consider calling Benji a…err…_Jord _just yet. I heard he's been shirking his studies a little bit."

"What'dya mean?"

"I mean, he's still pretty smart and all, but you can't keep the Bullworth Academic Scholarship with an A minus average. You need to keep an A or better. Right now, Benji's hovering between an A and an A minus."

Jimmy stared at Petey in disbelief. "You serious? An A minus is pretty damn good by itself! He really needs the full A average?"

"Well, yeah. It's not a full scholarship for nothing."

"Damn." Jimmy let out a low whistle, and threw the still-swimming Benji a pitying look. "No wonder Benji's always so stressed out. All that pressure…"

"I guess. Sometimes I wonder why he joined the swim team at all. It takes a lot of time and study hours just to be able to keep up the requirements for the scholarship…"

"And don't forget his slavery to Darcy. Ugh, I really hate that little bitch."

Petey shrugged. "I'm surprised you do. After all, you're dating Mandy now, aren't you? Their personalities are similar."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Um…"

Suddenly, the doors to the pool building burst open, and a young Asian boy strolled inside, accompanied by several beautiful girls. The busty brunette shrugged off her snow covered cap and shook the frost off her heavily endowed bosom, which inflicted the attention of several of the male Jocks.

"What I wouldn't do for a pair of _those_ jugs," Damon murmured to Bo, grinning perversely as he did so.

But as soon as the Asian boy removed his black scarf and revealed his face, Jimmy immediately sat up, his eyes narrowing. "Stewart Lee."

At the sound of his name, Stewart lifted his gaze towards the top of the bleachers, his young, handsome face immediately brightening at the sight of Jimmy and Petey. "Ah, Mr. Hopkins! Mr. Kowalski! How do you do?"

Jimmy didn't answer. He was much too shocked, much too angry, and completely taken off guard by Stewart's sudden visit to make an audible response.

Mr. Beckham, however, immediately answered to this sudden intrusion. "Welcome, my boy!" he greeted cordially to Stewart. "I don't believe I know you! I've never seen you around campus before…"

Stewart smiled his dangerous, venomous smile. "Forgive me for my sudden entrance, sir. I am Stewart Lee, Head Boy and representative of Peace Onmite School for Prodigious Students."

"Oh." Beckham nodded, his mind not fully registering the bit of information given him. Then, in a split second, his eyes suddenly widened in shock. "OH! You're from—OH!" The normally lively and cheerful coach suddenly paled. "W-what are you doing here, sonny? This is a long way from Sacher City…"

"I was originally sent by my Headmistress to relay a message to Dr. Crabblesnitch. However, due to the snowstorm outside, I seem to have lost my way. You don't mind if me and my girls stay here until the storm dies down, do you?"

"Um…well…" Beckham looked uncertain.

"Oh, come on, coach!" Bo yelled from the pool. "Let them stay! It would be cruel to send them out in weather like this!" Jimmy saw that one pretty, blonde, Peace Onmite girl was leaning over the pool's edge, smiling as she gave Bo a clear view of her cleavage.

_Hmm. I wouldn't mind being in Bo's place right about now…heh heh…_

"Well…" Beckham hesitated a second longer, before he sighed. "I suppose there's no harm in letting them stay…" A wave of cheers arose from amongst the Jocks.

"All RIGHT, Coach!"

"You made the right decision, man!"

"WHOO! BOOBIES!"

Stewart Lee, who had been watching the scene unfold, chuckled quietly before he turned his ever watchful gaze back upon Jimmy.

_Stay calm,_ Jimmy told himself. _Stay calm…_

"Well, Mr. Hopkins?" Stewart asked courteously. "I trust that you've been well? No delinquency as of late, I hope?"

Despite himself, Jimmy growled softly. "That officially falls under the category of, 'None of Your Business, Asshole.'" He jumped off the bleachers, grunting slightly when he landed hard on the wet pool floor. Standing up, he stretched his legs and strode towards Stewart, who was in the midst of dusting the last of the snow off of his expensive black overcoat. "Seriously, though. What the hell are you doing here? The swimming championships aren't until after winter vacation is over."

"Oh, I'm aware of that, Mr. Hopkins." Stewart pulled off his silky black gloves, and watched the swimmers in the pool with a bemused expression. "Like I said earlier, I simply wanted to visit the fabulous headmaster that runs this—" here, Stewart's smile widened "—_glorious_ institution. Do you know where Dr. Crabblesnitch may be?"

"No," Jimmy replied coldly. "Don't hit the door on your way out."

"Oh, pish posh, Mr. Hopkins! Can't we at least have a nice little chat before my girls and I set out in the blistering cold again? Look!" Stewart made an elegant, sweeping gesture towards the beautiful girls, and Jimmy noticed that the busty brunette had a squealing, blushing Petey in her grasp. "Portia seems to be very much enthralled by Mr. Kowalski! This would be a fine opportunity for our schools to bond…"

"_Bond_?" Jimmy found himself snorting. "Listen, Lee. I personally don't want anything to do with you. You wanna know what _I _think of you?"

"Enlighten me, Mr. Hopkins."

"I think you're a sick, fucked up bastard who takes delight in making other people suffer. I think you're an insane lunatic who'd do anything he could to make sure he gets to the top, even if it means he has to kill another person to get there."

Stewart's eyes hardened, but his smile remained in place. "Well, Mr. Hopkins, I must say, I strongly disagree with your opinion of me."

"Uh-huh. I'm not surprised."

"_However_," Stewart continued, "I've been called much worse. So I'll forgive you for your indiscretion this once."

"Whatever."

"J-Jimmy?" Petey whimpered, as the busty brunette began to kiss his neck. "A little help here…_please_? PLEASE?!"

"Not now, Petey!" Jimmy snapped, not even bothering to glance in Petey's direction. Ignoring the fact that the heavily endowed Peace Onmite girl was basically molesting his friend in public, Jimmy turned his attention back to Stewart, and gave the Asian boy a displeased glare. "What do you really want from us, Lee? You're not the type who would go out in a blizzard just to play messenger boy."

The Asian boy looked thoughtful. "Well…" He turned his gaze towards the pool, his smile widening when his eyes fell on Benji. "Well…you're right. I'm honestly here to meet the intriguing Benjamin Shortman face-to-face."

"Ben?" Jimmy blinked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Benji stop swimming and stare at them curiously. "Why do you want to talk to him for?"

"I thought that would be obvious, Mr. Hopkins. That young man—" Stewart nodded his head at Benji "—created a fine miracle during the last swim meet between our schools. Perhaps he's your protégé?"

Jimmy blinked. "My what now?"

"I'll take that as a no, then. Let me tell you this. I've witnessed a completely different scenario during the last swim meet, Mr. Hopkins. I must say, your school was more…organized during your absence. I believe that was the first time I've seen this school come together, defeating my own school."

"Yeah. I heard all about it from Benji himself."

"By the way, I heard your absence was due to the fact that you were in a nasty little brawl with one Adrian Aquaberry. I heard that you were just barely able to defeat that younger boy. Is that true?"

Jimmy felt the heat rush to his face at Stewart's teasing tone. Glaring at the Asian boy, he snapped angrily, "That's none of your fucking business!"

"But of course, Mr. Hopkins! But of course!" Stewart raised his hands up in a pacifying gesture, smiling as he did so. "Then again, what would you expect with the boy's history? I mean, with his old school did suspend him for a reason. Must be pretty horrid too. Why else would they expel him otherwise…?"

"WHAT?" Jimmy's jaw hit the floor. Adrian had been expelled?!

"Oh. I see that you were unaware. Well, I'm not entirely sure why the boy was expelled, for his records were very carefully sealed…but I just thought you ought to know."

Jimmy didn't answer. He was still in a state of shock.

"Hey, Jim?" Benji swam up to the two boys , his brown eyes peering curiously through the prescription swimming goggles on his face. "What's going on? Who's this? Why's that heavily endowed, yet very beautiful girl molesting Petey over there?"

Snapping out of his stupor, Jimmy bent down and tapped Benji on the forehead. "You ask too many questions, Ben."

"Oh, don't reprimand the lad, Mr. Hopkins." Stewart bent down as well, and ruffled Benji's wet hair in a near affectionate manner. "My name is Stewart Lee. It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

Benji paused, before he nodded hesitatingly in the water. "Nice to meet'cha too. I saw you at the swim meet…the one between us and Peace Onmite."

"Ah, yes. I am a student there."

"…oh." Benji gave Jimmy a stunned look, a look that practically screamed, _why the hell are you talking to him?!_

"I must say, Mr. Shortman," Stewart said cheerfully, "you showed an amazing performance last time. You have a lot of talent…and not only in the swimming pool."

Benji blinked. "Huh?"

"Never mind. I hope to meet you many more times in the future. Both you…and Mr. Hopkins. Oh, and give my regards to Mr. Gary Smith. Merry Christmas."

Neither Jimmy nor Benji replied to this strange comment. Stewart simply smiled at the two of them, before he motioned for his girls to follow him. "Bertie! Portia! Come!"

"Yes, Stewart!" the girls chirped, before promptly dumping the boys they were wooing to return to Stewart's side. Bo looked fairly disappointed, while Petey looked fairly traumatized and possible scarred for life.

Both boys had a large amount of lipstick on their faces.

As the Peace Onmite students left the building, Benji gave Jimmy a questioning stare. "What was _that_ about, Jim?"

"…I'm not sure."

------------

_Some people believe that if something glitters, it's made of gold. Those people are the ones who believe that with a word, they can get what they came for._

------------

With a Santa cap placed at a crooked angle on his head, Edgar stared at the bills in Jimmy's hand. "Oh no. Oh, HELL no. I can't do this again, Jim. If my boss finds out that I've been letting underage minors into the bar, I'll lose my job!"

"Why not?" Jimmy protested. "You did it last time!"

"Yeah, well…last time the boss was out of town. He's actually _here_ tonight, and he has a buncha guests from Ireland that _have_ to be entertained. I can't risk it tonight, man!"

"I just wanna talk to Meela for a quick second."

"Meela?" Edgar's eyes narrowed. "_Again_? Why do you need to see her?"

"Why else? It's about Ben!"

"Nah." Edgar shook his head. "I might have believed that the first couple of times, but not tonight. Come on…no kid has _that_ many problems. And besides, if he's really in trouble, he'd call Meela by himself!"

"Good point. So, you gonna let me in?"

"No."

"Fine." Jimmy dug into his pocket, and fished out another ten dollar bill. "I'll raise the bribe to thirty bucks."

"Jim—"

"Thirty-five."

"JIM! I can't do that! Seriously, if I get caught—"

"Forty! And that's my final offer!"

Edgar paused. _Ah, crap_. He wasn't supposed to do stuff like this! Bribery, rule bending…he was supposed to be above all that shit, damn it! But yet, here it was. Cold, hard cash, just staring right in front of him.

Ah, fuck.

He swiped the bills from Jimmy's hand, and stuffed them into his jeans pocket. "Stay in the goddamn shadows," he warned. "Don't let Randy see you. Damn it, I'm not getting my ass busted for you, Hopkins."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure."

------------

_A new day will dawn for those who stand long and tall. The forests will echo with laughter, and those who watch them will wonder._

------------

Jimmy winced as a wave of thick smoke struck him in the face, but he was able to keep his breathing under control. He was finally getting used to the atmosphere in here…

The Laser Lounge had been redecorated for the holidays. There were half-dead trees here and there that were lazily decorated with faded tinsel and broken Christmas ornaments. Holly and wilting mistletoes hung over the bar and tables, but people were barely able to see them through the smoke.

In the distance, he could see a bunch of attractive, skimpily dressed women dancing in the distance. He caught sight of Lola and the ever sexy Bonnie dancing in front of a group of clearly excited men, all of whom were hooting and catcalling in heavily accented voices. Definitely the Irishmen.

But where oh where was Meela?

Lola and Bonnie were dressed in nothing but socks and large, oversized tee shirts. Jimmy couldn't help but smirk when he read "Hi, my name is Lola," and "Hi, my name is Bonnie," on their tee shirts.

And it helped a lot that the words were written RIGHT on the cleavage area.

The two women had been dancing sexily on the stage, and then, out of nowhere, the two suddenly embraced one another, and kissed each other right on the lips.

_WHOA! Someone give those girls a HUGE tip!_

"Damn, girls!" A tall, large man guffawed loudly, slapping his kneecaps as he tried to get his breathing under control. Behind the man's large, bushy brown beard, Jimmy saw two bright, shiny, beady green eyes and a smile that was as flirtatious as it was inviting. "You two are killing me here!"

"Thanks, Randy," Lola giggled, blowing the bar owner a kiss. "We always perform harder for _you_."

"Aw shucks, girl." Randy blushed, his face turning a bright scarlet from behind his bushy beard. "Makes me kinda upset that you got knocked up by your boyfriend. If you hadn't, I woulda married you right here and now…"

"Oh." Lola's face suddenly turned white. "Oh yeah…"

Jimmy literally had to bite his tongue to keep himself from laughing out loud. Lola got _pregnant_? She survived the near impossible odds for years, and now, when she finally graduated…suddenly, two pairs of hands grabbed him, and pulled him into the seat of a nearby table.

"Hey!" Jimmy cried out, forgetting that he was supposed to remain silent. "What the hell?!"

"Be quiet, boy!" a woman's voice whispered harshly. Jimmy had to blink. The woman's voice was low and husky, but it was definitely a woman's…

"Yeah, kid!" a man's voice hissed in agreement. The man's voice was slightly higher and softer than normal for a man. "You're not supposed to be here anyway!"

It took Jimmy a second, but he remembered who the voices belonged to. "Angelina and Andrew Aquaberry?! You guys are _here_?" He turned to his two captors, and were greeted by a pair of grinning identical faces, belonging to a pair of mischievous identical twins. The only difference between them was that one of the twins had longer hair than the other, and was supposedly dressed like a woman…but after his _last_ meeting with the Aquaberry twins, Jimmy wasn't sure who was who anymore.

The twin that looked like a woman sighed, and patted Jimmy on the head. "Don't worry your pretty little head off," she said, her voice low and husky and definitely feminine. "We're our proper genders. See? I'm even wearing the long wig and dress today, instead my brother." She gestured to her blue dress, and to the man's dark blue suit. "Don't tell Adrian, though. He thinks we're back in New York, designing new Greaser outfits for him."

"Fifties getups are so passé," the man, now confirmed as Andrew, whispered into Jimmy's ear.

"Indeed." Angelina nodded. "We're taking the time to see the sights and attractions…in our proper identities."

Andrew sighed and propped an elbow against the table, resting his chin in his hand. "It's so _boring_ to play ourselves. No excitement at all…but Angelina insisted on it, the silly thing."

"Don't call me silly, brother dear," Angelina said quietly. She sniffed, and looked away. "You're so mean…you know that I hate to be teased."

Andrew gasped, an act that sounded as fake as it looked. "Oh, my dear sister…" He quickly scooped his twin into his arms, and buried his head against her neck. "Forgive me. I didn't mean to hurt you. I was only playing…"

Jimmy watched the scene unfold with a look of confusion…and morbid disgust. _Why do I get the feeling that something isn't exactly right with these two?_

Suddenly, the lights dimmed. A pretty, skinny blonde woman wearing a revealing white dress came onto the stage, with a violin in hand.

"OOOOOOOH!" Andrew quickly detangled himself from Angelina, and stared admiringly at the woman on stage. "Time for the main attraction! Lina-beena-pookikins, do you have the camera ready?"

"Yes I do, Drewsie-poosie-wootsy-poo," Angelina replied, the tears magically vanishing as she held up a digital camera in her hand. "I hope she plays _Granuaile's Dance_."

"She'd better! I paid that fat Randy person good money to make her play that song and dance that dance!"

Jimmy was now even more confused than before. "What the hell are you two talking about? And why do you need a cam—"

Suddenly, the blonde woman began to play voraciously on the violin, swaying her tall, thin body gently to the soft, yet lively music.

"Look at her, Lina," Andrew whispered concernedly. "She's gotten so much thinner…"

"She needs to plump up, she does," Angelina observed, her lips set in a thin line. "Still…she's managed to keep some of her looks, so nothing's irreparable."

Jimmy ignored the twins. He kept his eyes on the pretty woman, who was now picking up the pace to her Celtic song and was dancing at a much livelier rate now. In the dark, he heard the gasps and excited whispers of the Irishmen, and Jimmy noticed that the woman was dancing barefoot…

"Meela!" Randy yelled in a cheerful, drunken haze. "Pick up the pace, woman! I know your half-starved look brings in a lot of customers, but you still gotta keep them entertained!"

_Meela?!_

Jimmy's mouth dropped open. How did he always miss out on the fact that Benji's mother wore a blonde wig to work? A part of his mind, the sane, rational part, told him to stop gawking at the mother of his friend. But another part wanted to look on…

…and that part won.

Meela danced faster and faster, still playing the violin with amazing accuracy. Jimmy heard the cheers of the men grow louder, heard the murmured approval of the twins, and heard the catcalls that Edgar made at the entrance of the Laser Lounge.

He just wanted to look on.

The music ran faster and faster, becoming more lively, more exciting, more _insane_. Meela kicked one of her long legs into the air as she played, and one of the older men began to clap in tune with the song so energetically that the others told him to calm down or suffer a stroke.

And then…when the climax of the song reached its peak and finished, it was over. Meela stopped dancing, and took a graceful bow.

She was rewarded for her efforts by the men as they jeered, hooted, and threw dirty dollar bills in her face.

------------

_It is whispered that if we all call for him, the piper will lead us to reason and peace._

------------

The minute the song ended, Angelina and Andrew disappeared.

Jimmy didn't know where they went. They were like damn Cheshire Cats; disappearing and reappearing when it suited them best. And they always came and go with a damn grin, too.

Edgar, who had been distracted by Meela's performance, didn't know where they slipped off to either. Some bouncer he turned out to be.

But the twins were the least of his concern. Walking up to Meela who had, with much shame, scooped up all the dollar bills into the skirt of her dress, he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. He noted with a sinking heart how much her shoulder tensed before she actually realized that the hand belonged to him.

"Hello, Saint Jimmy." Her tired blue eyes lightened just enough to animate her pale, oval face. "What brings you here?"

And Jimmy had to smile. After several visits, Meela had just accepted the fact that Jimmy was going to break into the Laser Lounge whether she liked it or not, whether she threatened to tattle on him and have him arrested or not. But Jimmy knew she'd never tattle on him, and she knew him well enough to know that that he would do whatever his whims told him to do, and that no one could stop him otherwise.

"You danced really nicely up there," Jimmy said politely, resisting the urge to check out her long, shapely legs. "I liked your…um…_dress_."

"Thank you." Meela laughed lightly, before she let out a loud yelp and clutched at her rear end. Turning around, both Meela and Jimmy caught sight of a grinning Michael Burton, who was staring at Meela lecherously as he pinched his thumb and index finger together.

There was no question as to what the former gym teacher had done, and there was no question as to what the man still obviously wanted.

Jimmy had half a mind to stomp over to Burton and pound the living daylights out of the middle-aged bastard, but Meela quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him over to a vacant table. "Please don't," she whispered softly as Jimmy opened his mouth to protest. "I'm used to it, honestly. I'll be fine."

"But he—he—"

"I have Edgar to protect me," she said as-a-matter-of-factly. "And I don't want you to start a fight in here. What if Randy sees you? Then Edgar will get fired, and Chef Morty will get fired, and then…" Meela faltered off, and shook her head. "It's not worth it, Jimmy. Just…just don't."

She kept her soft hands on his arm, and Jimmy could feel her fingers pressing gently into his skin. _Please_, the hands seemed to say. _Please…_

He calmed down, but only slightly. He slumped grumpily into his seat, and crossed his arms in a huff.

Meela sat next to him, sighing in obvious relief. "Thank you."

"Pfft. Whatever." For a moment, he almost wanted to pout, like a stubborn child who was denied access to a bagful of candy. But he thought better of it in the end. "In case you're wondering, I'm not here for Benji, Meela. I just wanted more of Morty's cooking."

"Oh."

"…and maybe to talk to you."

"Oh?" Meela raised a brow at this statement, even though her lips were stretched in a small, teasing smile. "Don't you have a best friend or a girlfriend for that? Benji told me that you have plenty of the latter."

_Benji_ _said WHAT?! I'll kill him!_

"Petey and Mandy aren't exactly the best people to talk to," Jimmy explained through gritted teeth, trying not to think of strangling Benji with Meela right in front of him. "I mean, normally I'd try to talk to Pete, but he's been busy with Head Boy stuff lately. And Mandy…I dunno." It had only been a few weeks into the relationship, but already Jimmy felt like things were on the rocks between him and the Jock cheerleader. Sure, the kissing and making out and occasional sexual activities were fun, but…

…he was already getting bored. Soon she'd want to _talk_.

"What do you want me to say, darling?" Meela asked, cocking her head to the side. "Don't you like her?"

"Well, I like her enough to kiss her."

"You could pay a hooker to do that, you know."

"True. But then again, most of the girls in my school act like hookers anyway."

Meela let out a yelp of shock. "Are you serious?"

"Come for a visit to school and you'll see." Jimmy sighed, and shook his head. "It figures. All the beautiful girls act like total sluts."

"Oh, come now," Meela protested, looking hurt. "Just because they're beautiful doesn't mean that they're sluts. That's the most unreasonable bit of logic I've ever heard."

Jimmy smirked. "It's the Jimmy Hopkins logic, also known as the 'I-got-way-too-much-ass-at-an-early-age-and-now-I'm-bored' logic."

"In other words, you're a man whore."

"HEY!"

"It's what I'm hearing, darling." Meela gave the furious Jimmy a placating smile, before she suddenly leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Jimmy froze, staring at the young mother in shock as he felt the blood rush to his face.

_What the hell? What the hell? WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?!_

…_do it again, please?_

Meela must have caught his astonished look, because she pointed to a clump of mistletoe that was hanging right above their heads. "Mistletoe," she said oh-so-helpfully.

"Uh." Jimmy didn't quite know what to say.

She then pulled out a small box from within the folds of her dress, a small box that was decorated neatly with cheap, white crepe paper. "Merry Christmas, Saint Jimmy! I know it's a bit early, but Benji told me about your solo guitar performance, and I thought this might bolster your confidence." Meela pressed the box into his hand, before she stood up and returned to the stage, where the Irishmen asked for an encore performance.

Jimmy paused, before he slowly unwrapped the present. She probably just got him a cheap keychain or something…girls and women had a habit of doing lame stuff like that…

A black and red wristband fell into his hand. In bright, yellow letters, he saw the words, "Good Luck!" written on the length of band.

------------

_There are always two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there is always an opportunity to switch paths._

------------

He hadn't expected this.

Upon returning to the Boys' Dorm, he had heard harsh, muffled whispers from behind the building. His original intention was to ignore it and move on, but a sharp cry made him stop dead in his tracks.

_Benji?_

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Benji yelled. Jimmy crept quietly to the corner of the building, and peeked over at the two boys who were standing next to the dumpster.

Correction. _Adrian_ was standing, in all his winter-style, Aquaberry donned glory. Benji, who was wearing only a cheap, thick sweater, faded jeans, and a worn down scarf, was forcibly pinned against the wall, with Adrian's hands inching closer to his throat by the minute. But instead of being frightened, the small boy was glaring up at the dark-haired Prep with a look of utmost loathing in his brown eyes.

"I'll never tell you," the wheat-haired boy snarled. "Forget it, you freak! She's gone now, and there's nothing you can do to get her back! Your stupid bitch of a mother made sure of that, if I'm not mistaken!"

Adrian growled, and his grip on Benji's neck tightened. "You little bastard…you're so damn _selfish_! You knew that Amelia was all I had! And even so, you and your little peasant family had the _gall_ to steal her from me! Now TELL me!" The Prep shook Benji so hard that the child's head rocked back and forth dangerously. "Tell me where she is! I _know_ you know where her location is!"

"Isn't she in the Amazon rainforest? According to the news, I heard that's where she was for the last six years…"

"Shortman, I'm warning you—"

"Fuck you!" Benji spat venomously. "It's your fucking family's fault she ran away! You guys had your heads so high up in your asses that you couldn't even see how miserable she was! And let me tell you something," the small child sneered. "Even now, despite her current state, she's much happier than she was when she lived with _you_! You know why, Adrian? Because she's not afraid to live the way she wants! She doesn't hide her interests and live as a sham!"

Adrian paled slightly, but his hands were starting to shake in anger. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come off your high horse for a second, will you? You go around, masquerading as _Ace_. You serenade Gord as Adrian, but as Ace, you chase after Zoe like a horny puppy. Amelia's never been afraid to show who she really was. That's why she fell in love with my dad, even though everyone knew he was a loser!"

"Shortman, shut up!"

"You have no balls without Amelia. And let me tell you, boyo…you're gonna get caught one day. Everyone might buy your little Ace charade for the time being, but you'll slip up sooner or later. In fact, I've even heard Peanut wondering why _Ace_ disappears for hours on end, and never trash talks the Preps."

"SHUT UP!"

"You made a mistake," Benji sang in an eerily childish voice. "You made a mistake and you've been bad…you'd better confess, do what you've been taught…because you're gonna get caught! You're gonna get caught! You're gonna get cau—"

_SLAP!_

Benji staggered, one hand clutching at his dark red cheek.

"Shit!" Jimmy ran out from behind the corner and, in one solid move, grabbed Adrian and threw him off of the wheat-haired child. "Benji!" Jimmy cried, trying and failing to get the small boy to look at him. "Hey! Look at me! You okay?"

There was no answer. Benji was trying to contain his whimpers, and the sight of this suddenly made Jimmy feel very, _very_ enraged.

_That…that bastard! Hitting a kid? How could he?!_

Adrian, in the meantime, struggled to regain his footing. However, Jimmy quickly turned away from Benji and instead grabbed the Prep firmly by the arms. Before Adrian knew what was happening, Jimmy dug one of his heels _hard_ into Adrian's stomach, forcing the air out of the Prep's system. Jimmy then pulled the younger boy's upper body downwards and smashed his knee into Adrian's face, while simultaneously slamming his elbow into the base of the Prep's head.

This double impact was too much. Adrian's eyes grew glassy, and he fell to the ground in a disgraceful heap.

"You fucking bastard!" Jimmy yelled, not caring that Adrian was only half conscious. "You've taken this too damn far! I told you to leave Ben _alone_!"

"Jim…" Benji kept the right side of his face out of Jimmy's sight. "Jim…just forget it."

"WHAT?!" Jimmy stared at Benji in disbelief. "Are you—are you kidding me? He _slapped_ you, for crying out loud! I specifically told this asshole to stay the hell away from you, and—"

"Just drop it, Jim!" Benji cried, his eyes filled with tears. Before Jimmy could respond, the small boy spun on his heel and walked quickly back to the Boys' Dorm, rubbing his eyes furiously as he did so.

As he left, Jimmy caught sight of the wheat-haired boy's cheek. There were now several dark bruises visible on the white skin, bruises that resembled the palm and fingers of a human hand.

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_There is a humming in your head that won't go away. Don't ignore it, for it is merely the piper calling you to join him._

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On the first day of winter vacation, on Christmas Eve, Benji was gone. No one knew where he went, and no one could even recall the child leaving, even when Jimmy threatened to beat them up.

Adrian was particularly distraught. "He's gone to see her, I know it," the Prep muttered angrily whenever he and Jimmy passed by on campus.

After much searching, Jimmy finally found a single note on Benji's desk, a note which read:

_To Jim or Pedro or whoever's reading this,_

_I'm gonna go home for the holidays. Don't look for me. I'll be back by the end of winter break, but in the meantime, have a Merry Christmas._

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